Hades Effect:Spartans of the Normandy
by Johnnieboy11
Summary: In the year 2549, an ONI Spartan-III Team, known as Team HADES, goes missing with their ship, the UNSC Diamond in the Rough whilst on a mission to destroy a Covenant Staging ground. What neither they, nor the UNSC know is that the Spartans had been sent to a world beyond their own, a galaxy similar to theirs, but far more different... With a darker threat looming...
1. Prologue:Arrival

_**Note:I give full credit to Arch The Food Nut for an idea on how to make the intro to this story...**_

* * *

 ** _"GET US THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!'_**

 ** _"COVENANT CRAFT HOT ON OUR TAIL! TWO CCS-CLASSES!"_**

 ** _"PLASMA CHARGE HIT THE AFT ENGINES! SLIPSTREAM DRIVE'S FUBAR!"_**

 ** _"Wait... It's spooling up! Emergency shutdown ain't working... EVERYONE! HANG THE FUCK ON!"_**

 ** _"MALFUNCTION DETECTED IN DRIVE SYSTEM... JUMP IN 3... 2... 1..."_**

* * *

 ** _Unknown Location, outside UNSC Space. 2549, UNSC Standard Calendar._**

 _A squad of seven Spartan-IIIs had been sent to a secret base of operations within Covenant Controlled Colonies, where unknown amounts of Covenant forces were gathering. Aboard the UNSC Frigate_ 'Diamond in the Rough', _The crew and Spartans found themselves ambushed by a Covenant Reactionary Force within the 63 Cordelia System, a former UNSC Outer Colony that had been burned, turned to Glass. The_ Diamond, _A Paris-Class Frigate Refit made for Ship-to-Ship combat against Covenant Corvettes and Stealth Operations into Deep Enemy Territory, one of TWO of its kind, had met its doom against a CCS-Class cruiser. It had been hit by a Plasma Torpedo in the far back of the aft engine nacelle, which ignited fuel lines and boiled Coolant to vapor, until it reached the Shaw-Fujikawa Slipstream drive._

Now, adrift in space and heavily damaged, the UNSC Frigate stands alone... Debris float around its remnant carcass, still ablaze with the fires of Plasma... Parts of it still stand active, shielded from the Covenant's initial bombardment, but outside of it, a Specialized Escape Pod, the Honeybee-class, was adrift. The pod's insides had been stripped for the Squad of 7 Spartans to fit their whole equipment set... Floating aboard it, the UNSC Spartan HADES team, awake from their slumber, already prepped their gear. The Seven Spartans barely fit into the pod, even as its inside seats had been removed completely, leaving it basically just an insertion Drop Pod made for Squads of 12, or in this case, the Hades' 7-man team.

Clad in a mix of MJOLNIR and SPI Sets and striped patterns across their arms, with the Beta Company candidates, the 6, wearing SPI armor. The only one not carrying such a set of simplistic armor was their Leader, callsign HADES ACTUAL, Chief Petty Officer Jonah-A074, also nicknamed 'Old Man' or 'Pops' by the B-Company soldiers, even though he was merely 26 years old. Instead he was clad in his own personal MJOLNIR Set, painted Silver with Black accents. He tapped his microphone while looking at his TACCOM, then said through the 40 meters' com setting "Hades Team, Report."

"Hades-2 is Active." Said his Executive Officer and multi-role specialist, a 16-year-old girl by the name of Asaga, with a much too Jovial tone, as was characteristic of her. Her full name and Rank read on her shoulder pad in small lettering 'Petty Officer Second Class Asaga-B117', a much too strange situation for Jonah to recall, but he knew the tag 117 belonged to the Master Chief Petty Officer JOHN-117 of the Spartan-II Program. Nonetheless...

"Hades-3, on standby." His team doctor, Staff Sergeant Cole-B015 said, standing tall with his Mag Boots locked onto the flooring of the Bee-like Drop Pod and examined his Medical Supplies, taking inventory. "Before ya ask, Old Man, plenty of Biofoam on stand-by, alongside other needed Medical Supplies..."

"Hades-4, ready, Chief!" Yelled Alice-B301, floating mockingly about as she tried to gather up plenty of supplies. The girl, a Staff Sergeant much like Cole, was a bit hyperactive, but one you'd want around you during combat. She was also the hauler of the squad, the one who could carry a load of ammunition and supplies for any and every situation, a necessary development, considering what just happened. "Oi, Cole. worry about yer guns, not yer supplies!" She smirked, grabbing a pair of M7 Caseless SOCOM Silenced SMGs out of the air and shoving them in her duffel bag, which was chock-full of other weapons and ammo already.

"Hades-5, awaiting deployment orders..." Said the Fireteam's sniper, Damian-B034 grabbing his SRS-99/99 AP-AT Rifle out of the air and slinging it on his back. "Equipment check... We have Seven thrusters with full fuel to get to the ship, sir... Enough oxygen tanks to last us all an hour aboard the _Diamond in the Rough._ "

"Hades-6, here I am, Pops." Answered Six, the Fireteam's newest soldier since the death of their youngest member. The girl went by the name of Irene-B076 and she was the team's Explosive Specialist, so it was only natural her duffel bag was full of Plastic explosives, grenades, Rocket Launcher tubes and two Sparrowhawk Launcher 'cradles'. Beside her, gathering his wits about was her team-mate from within Beta-Company's Delta Squad.

"Hades-7... I'm still breathing..." Panted the boy, shaking his head. The more clumsy Spartan-III of Beta Company, Andrew-B273, carried a Squad Automatic Weapon beside his back-locked MA5K and two duffel bags' worth of Ammo for all weapons and a pair of M6 SOCOM Pistols.

"Good." Mused Jonah, clicking everyone as alive on his TACCOM and checking the TEAMBIO. Everyone showed green across the board. No contusions, wounds or anything major. He looked to 5 and nodded, then said "Hand the kits out to everyone. O2 Tanks, Thrusters and such. Scatter ammo between each of our Rigs, each with the ammo for the weapons you are currently carrying." And he cocked his DMR, feeding a round into the chamber "We have an hour to check the ship, so load'em up."

Nearly a minute later, everyone had their gear strapped to themselves and was ready to move out. Jonah was first at the door. He locked his Armor's oxygen seals and patted his helmet on his head, then readied his DMR and looked back. "Ready, everyone?" He asked calmly, to which all the Spartans gave out nods. The man nodded to himself as well as to them, then clicked a few buttons on the keypad, opening the door of the UNSC Pod. Their boots, still mag-locked to the floor, kept them from being sucked out by the air blowing outward from the compartment. As the last of the air rushed past them and the dead silence of space settled around them, Jonah raised his hand, then made a cutting motion, 'No Radio', and an up motion 'Boots off, Thrust Systems on'. Easy to understand sign language was paramount for Spartan Fireteams such as this.

Their boots hummed off, then their thruster systems hissed as they slowly and steadily pushed themselves out of the Evacuation-turned-drop Pod. Jonah's head slowly turned to see the Spartans of his team behind him and, to his view, came the sun of the Solar System they were in, a bright star, much like Sigma Octanus IV, from where their mission had taken off. They were in Interplanetary space from the looks of things, so that could only bring bad news...

Looking ahead, Jonah scoped a few of the holes left in the ship and the Covenant Plasma Scoring all across its hull. The UNSC Emblem had been completely eradicated, melted off with a Torpedo hitting right next to the MAC Complex.

Alice whistled "Jeez... She don't look salvageable..."

Damian hummed in agreement as they closed in further and further to the destroyed ship. As they moved past a small debris field, they could see the bodies of UNSC Soldiers and Crew, Marines and Bridge Officers, floating, frozen in the vacuum. Irene sighed deeply, then said "Poor bastards. Didn't stand a chance." with a hint of sadness in her otherwise calm voice.

"Nothing we can do about them now, Spartans..." Jonah said, sighing deeply too. Men died for them to get out... That didn't make anything right for a Spartan... The young man gasped, looking up at the other side of the ship, near one of the Hangars, which had two Covenant Landing Craft stuck into it. 'Crap!" Swore Irene, boosting herself closer to Jonah.

"Damn Covies must be here already." Asaga growled, readying her weapons. "Boss, what's our Entry?"

Jonah scanned the hull of the ship, until his eyes rested upon a breach right next to the Bridge Tower, big enough to fit all of them. He pointed there, then said "That way... We're not going through the Universal docking Ring. Too much trouble for us to do..." And he noticed what that hole was from... One of the extra hardpoints that was placed upon the ship, in case they needed to tow another out of the Combat Area. He sighed, then slowly moved his hand toward it and sliced across, showing the team to form a semi-phalanx, then aimed his DMR.

Going through the hole, the Spartan dumped his Jump Pack, pushing himself forward, then straightened up, planting his boots into the steel floor and locking them with a quiet hum. The other Spartans followed suite, landing beside him and moving, albeit sluggishly, thanks to the Low Gravity on this ship. Jonah raised his hand as the last of them landed, then pointed ahead and said "Diamond. Keep each-other covered to the best of your abilities."

The Spartans took the formation, following Jonah with baby steps as they covered each-other, sweeping the area around them with their weapons. The black-grey hallway of the UNSC Ship was lit up only by emergency lighting, signaling the Reactor was still running, though at a somewhat minimal capacity. Sweeping past the Crew Deck, the squad found themselves within the Hangars of the ship. Two DLT-77 Dropships rested in their cradles, one still operational and the other, completely destroyed, without one of the four VTOL Engine Nacelles. The squad continued on to the armory, where they stocked up on whatever items were still floating around, from Standard-Issue MA5B Assault Rifles to other gear they could find, adding to their already-massive Arsenal.

 _ **-Start OST:Jeff Williams-I Burn-**_

Sweeping the rest of the ship clear from where they were to the bridge had been an easy task, considering nobody was around... No Covenant or human bodies either, so that only left the Covenant as Loose Ends. Advancing on the door to the Bridge, Jonah placed his hands between the sealed door's small crack, preparing himself to pull it open... He stopped seconds before doing that, then looked to everyone and whispered "Stack up around the door, just in case." To which everyone nodded and did so silently... Jonah pulled with all his might as everyone settled in, then immediately felt the necessity to duck.

Crystalline shards flew over his head, striking the wall behind him. The Spartan rolled off the ground, unlocking his boots and pushed himself off the wall, then aimed his DMR to see who it was defending the bridge. Two Elite Spec-Ops in space suits, Four Jackals with shields and thirteen grunts. Jonah raised his hand, then signaled everyone to start a cohesive strike they'd worked on for clearing rooms. He pushed himself off the roof as he floated at it, then lunged himself into the bridge, skidding to a halt against the floor whilst purple crystals and emerald balls of shimmering energy blasted past him. The Spartan aimed his rifle, fired once, twice and three times, three Grunts fell dead, carried off by the 0-Gee Environment into the corners of the bridge.

Asaga lunged in, drawing her MA5K, aimed it toward an elite, then opened fire, launching herself off thanks to the Gravity and using the weapon as a sort of minimalist thruster whilst the recoil kicked in her shoulder. Two more Grunts fell dead as she stopped against a wall, bumping into it. She withdrew a grenade from her belt and threw it toward the two Elites, who moved out of the way using Thrust packs much like theirs, then opened fire on the Spartan girl's position. She pressed herself against the wall, then, using her legs, pushed herself away fast as cobalt bolts of plasma painted the steel wall a reddish hue as it heated up.

Damian and Andrew fired away, D from his sniper, Andy from his Assault Rifle. Two Jackals' shields shimmered purple, then red, overcharged and burst, only for the exposed creatures to receive gunshots to the head from D's sniper, tearing parts of their avian skulls off. Following up the onslaught quickly with a pair of grenades toward another group of 4 Grunts, Irene grinned behind her mask as the Grenades exploded with a muted thump, sending the mangled Grunt bodies floating around, their blue, shining blood floating around in drops of all sizes.

One of the Two Elites withdrew a Plasma Grenade from its belt, clicked it to activate and threw it. The ball of energy sent out a deaf beep, flew through the Zero-Gee environment, then landed right next to Alice and Cole, who felt the searing heat of energy as it exploded, to which Alice drew her Silenced SMGs and opened fire. The Elite's energy shields flickered blue as the staccato SMG rounds touched them and, finally, a well placed shot from Jonah's DMR burst them, sending the Elite reeling, whilst Cole aimed down his MA5K's sights, then fired a 5-round burst. Two rounds went into the chest of the creature, through its armor, and the last three went into its neck and head. The Alien's head twisted back and it died, making the other, its comrade, jump and draw its Plasma Carbine. It aimed and shot three times as three bolts of Green passed Jonah's head. The Spartan propelled himself off the floor and toward the Elite, drew his knife, then, with the full Velocity on, plunged the knife into the throat of the creature, pinning it to the ground, bursting its shields in a flash of cobalt-blue energy. He placed his boot onto the Creature's chest, pressed against it, then drew his M6 Socom and fired the entire mag into the creature's head. The last Grunts and Jackals fell, gunned down by the squad as Jonah backed away from the Dead Elite'd body, then gave them a thumbs up and said with pride rippling in his voice "Area secure, Spartans... Well done..."

 _ **-End OST-**_

Jonah and Andrew moved ahead, to the computers of the ship. Screens and systems still flickered, the bridge dimly lit by the seeping reactor power that still existed. Tapping his helmet, the Spartan engineer Andrew thought about what he could extract. The boy pulled out his laptop/tablet system, pulled out a cord from it, then linked it to the computers and started running diagnostics. Dozens of Data Lines flickered in front of his eyes as he examined each and every one of them carefully, then looked to Jonah and said "I'm able to restart air and gravity to the bridge, as well as power to the Navy-computer and AI Port."

"AI Port?" Asked Asaga, moving beside Jonah. She looked to him, then said "Ol' Man. Far as I know, this ship didn't have an Artificial Intelligence..." With a hint of curiosity. Jonah nodded to her, then said "It didn't... Not officially." calmly. He looked to Asaga, then said "You remember that Special AI we were assigned to take care of for Doctor Halsey? That copy of Kalmiya from Reach?"

"Aye." Asaga nodded, grinning behind her mask "I already like where this is goin'. No need to tell me any more and ruin it..." She smirked, then walked away, but not before looking to him and finishing off "Like ya always do." And with that, the Spartans felt a pit in their stomach as Gravity activated. The bridge hummed to life and Grunt and Elite bodies that flew around mindlessly dropped to the floor, dead. Their blood mix-and-matched, creating strange colors as it dripped through the grating.

"The hell was that supposed to mean?" Jonah asked the girl, who chuckled and waved it off. The Spartan then sighed deeply... What a woman.

"Systems online." Reported Andrew happily.

"Well done, Seven." Jonah hummed calmly, then looked at the Captain's Chair, to see a Holographic Pillar flickering. He walked toward it and, as he did so, told Andrew "Start COLE PROTOCOL. Purge everything but the ship's Self-Destruct codes, which I want linked to my TACCOM."

"Aye, sir!" Andrew said from behind, saluting, then he turned to work.

"Wow, boss, what're you about to do?" Asked Cole in a shocked tone.

"We were ordered to purge everything in the COLE PROTOCOL and, if the ship ever was to fall into enemy hands, blow it up. It's a secret UNSC Project after all, a Stealth Frigate with the armament of a Cruiser, so..." The Spartan said, stopping next to the Captain's Chair. He yanked out a crystalline chip from the Holographic Pillar, then slid it into one of his Chest Rig's pockets, closed it tight and looked to Andrew and asked "Status?" To which the young man gave a thumbs up and said "System is being purged. Codes are locked safe and available for whenever you need them." And to that, he stood up, then set his tablet back into his duffel bag.

"Alright, Hades!" Barked Jonah in an authoritarian tone "We're headed for the Pelican in the Landing Bay! Re-seal your suits in case you opened them up and prep to move out!"

Everything went by the numbers. That was all Jonah could think of as they rushed for the Pelican in the Hangar Bay. Looking at his TACCOM, he pressed a few flashing commands, then watched it charge. The Detonation Codes linked to his suit well enough. He patted his pocket in which the AI's chip was and it shined silvery-red. The Spartans boarded the Vehicle immediately upon reaching it. Jonah and Asaga took the seats in the front, then started activating the ship's systems... All of them worked and the craft was refueled and rearmed. Good.

"Kids are in the back seat." Asaga smirked, looking at everyone in the back as the hatch locked itself in the back and the cabin pressurized. Everyone was in their seats, harnesses on and such, with their Duffel Bags safely secured around the top of the safety nets. She grinned, then spun up the gun as the door ahead was still locked and without power, then said "Imma be wasting some of our ammo, Ol' Man. Ya mind?" smugly, looking up at Jonah. The man shook his head, then said "Knock yourself out, Two." And she looked ahead, tapping commands.

"Three... Two... ROCKETS OUT!" The girl smirked, firing two Archer rockets at the door. The Titanium-A Doors budged and then she opened up with the Chain Gun of the aircraft, bursting through the door with AP Depleted Uranium rounds. The door exploded off the Hull into space, then Jonah yelled "HANG ON!" As he maxed out the throttle. The dropship burst from its holding cradle at high speed, then dived down as Jonah was piloting. He angled down, then up and held course, placing his fingers over his TACCOM and said "Fireworks in 3... 2... aaand-a~" He pressed the button... A shockwave shuddered the hull of the Pelican and the explosion behind them sent debris flying around, to which the Spartan smirked and said "One... Kaboom."

"Nice one, bossman!" cheered Irene from the back.

"You have a thing with bombs, don't you?" Andrew asked calmly, to which the girl nodded "M-hmm!" Happily. Jonah sighed, then looked at the Pelican's data, to which he saw the engines overheat. Immediately, he throttled down, then set the engines on stand-by, allowing them to cool down and said "Activated Beacon..." After pressing a button and he leaned into his chair, taking his helmet off, then ran a hand through his silver hair and finished off "Spartans... You're allowed to rest for an hour... We'll need it..."


	2. Butterfly Effect

Jonah pounced out of his seat, then shook his head and looked to the Craft's console. Asaga was not sitting in front, at the Gunner's seat, so that raised the question of where she was. The Spartan officer looked back, to see her in the back, talking to the rest of the squad, her long, crimson hair caught in two ponytails. She spoke happily to everyone, whilst the others still had their helmets strapped to their heads. That was a good sight, to say the least. He slid his helmet on his head, tapped a few buttons on the console, then watched as Asaga walked back toward the cockpit, her emerald eyes glimmering with joy.

"Finally awake, Boss?" Asked the girl, sliding her helmet back onto her head, locking it into place and taking her seat. Jonah nodded, then said "Aye... How long was I out?"

"Exactly an hour. I woke up early because the guys and gals back there couldn't settle down." Asaga smirked, then nodded to him and said "Ship's still got plenty of power." And she grabbed the handles of the Weapon Systems and said "Power us up any time, Chief!"

The aircraft hummed to life as its external scanners started an Active Scan... The Screens blared with warnings.

"Crap!" Muttered the Spartan as he wrote in commands at lightning speed. Asaga, quiet, strapped her fingers tightly around the weapons systems, linked them to the Helmet Feed and looked up. She powered up the HAVOK Nuke aboard the Ship and prepared to drop it in a form of Mine, then nodded to Jonah. "HAVOK is prepared if it's anything hostile. We're taking it with us."

"Good." Jonah hummed, trying to restart the Pelican's engines. His eyes scanned the space ahead... A few planets and such. Beside them, there was an even bigger planet, one that he and the others somehow hadn't seen. The two watched closely ahead, with awe, as a shadow came over the sun... A Ship. It was big and looked much like a lance or arrowhead with several side protrusions the type of Engine Nacelles and in-atmospheric flight-capable wings. A very sleek design, seemingly for Stealth, a part they could tell due to the Heat Sinks near its engines. The Spartans looked at the belly of the ship, which was completely black, while symbols on it were red and blue, with white covering most of the top of the ship.

"Wow..." Asaga chimed, examining the strange ship's every intricate detail. "That's a cool ship..." She murmured, then saw the side writing of the ship. Its name, written out in white letters. _NORMANDY._ The girl looked back, to see the kids in their seats, readying weapons already as the clicking noise inside the craft sounded off. The tense atmosphere had finally hit her too. The girl smacked her helmet twice, once to make sure it was locked, once for luck, then drew her pistol from her hip, cocked it and checked her back, for her Assault Rifle. All were still present.

They watched the belly of the ship open up, with a thin energy shield enveloping the bay. Jonah squinted at the bay and, seeing soldiers waving them aboard, their weapons holstered, gave 1/5th thrust and allowed the ship to slowly glide within the confines of the vessel. He powered his Vertical Thrusters as they entered the inside of the bay, then heard them roar as the Pelican set down with clangs. The engines shifted to silent, then Jonah drew his Assault Rifle, got to the back to see everyone unstrapped and with their weapons loaded and waved Asaga forward.

The group met up in the middle of the ship's cargo tray and Jonah walked ahead of the deck, right toward the exit, cocked his Assault Rifle, then looked back and said "Everyone... Let me do the talking and try not to point weapons at them just yet..."

The door hissed, unlocked and slid open, with the gangplank lowering for the Spartans to see outside. Dozens of soldiers sat by an armored Vehicle, automatic weapons pointed at them. Each weapon was weird in its own right, a different design than they had. The weapons, in fact, did not look like Firearms at all. More like Magnetic Assault Rifles, a prototype still in development by UNSC Specialists back at home.

"Come out with your hands up!" Yelled one of the soldiers, his weapon's crosshair lined up with Jonah's head. The Spartan looked to his comrades, then whispered "Stand by..." And walked out, rifle in his hand, toward the soldiers. Fifteen hums sounded off as the weapons primed, confirming his suspicions. These guys were indeed carrying Magnetic Weapons. He sighed, lowered his rifle by his hip, then shifted his view across the room, to see three... Three odd Aliens. A massive, hulking creature with blood-red armor, that also looked like one of the Earth's old dinosaurs with a carapace on top of his head and... Well, major wounds on his face. Next to him, an Avian-type creature with silver-grey skin and blue tattoos on its odd mandibles (A feature that reminded him of the Covenant Elites) and, of course, a girl clad in a suit, with only three digits per hand and two long fingers on her feet. Her eyes shined white from within a misty, purple mask.

"Identify yourself." Said one of the Soldiers, standing up. The woman was clad in a white armor with red accents, that looked as ready to go into space as the Spartans' own suits. The Spartan sighed, thinking of a way not to blow their mission. Then it got to him... "Oh, this again..." He whined, slinging his rifle on his back and walking toward the woman "How many damn times are you people gonna stop me and my group from finding what the hell's going on here?"

"What?" The woman asked, lowering her Assault Rifle. "Are you... Some form of Alliance special operations soldier?"

"Uhm..." Jonah thought for a moment, then nodded his head "Yes."

"Oh..." The girl said, taking her helmet off. "What's your rank?"

"C..." The man started, trying to consider for a moment the possible ranks around, thinking this was a navy ship. He sighed, then lied with a grin "Chief Petty Officer Flagg. Alliance HADES Squad." And he watched everyone immediately straighten up and back away, lowering their weapons. They snapped crisp salutes and the woman chimed "Sorry, sir! We had no idea Black Ops troops were around!"

"Took you a while..." Jonah paused, waiting for the girl to answer. She nodded, then said "Ashley Williams sir... Chief Ashley Williams."

"Well, Chief... You nearly pulled a fast one on us." Jonah said, crossing his arms. We're running on an experimental craft and were sent here by High Command specifically to find out what the hell is going on." He jabbed a menacing finger at her "You ain't making my or my squad's jobs any easier." And he looked back "HADES, Fall in! Get the hell out of that bird and line up!"

The Six other armored soldiers of HADES Squad got out, weapons on their backs. Asaga, with her visor depolarized, walked beside the Chief Petty Officer, looked to him, winked, then re-polarized her visor and looked to Ashley, arms crossed. "I'm Sergeant Koris. Chief Petty Officer's XO... May I ask, Chief Williams, what the hells is an alliance ship doing all the way here? Especially the _Normandy."_

"Orders from Admiral Hackett, Sergeant." Ashley nodded to her, then looked to Jonah and asked "Seven Man squad... Would've said it was small if it wasn't Alliance Black Ops sitting in front of me... Forgive me, Chief Petty Officer. We'll release you as soon as Commander Shepard comes down to greet you. She's been very keen on what was on your dropship."

"Alright..." Jonah nodded, sighing.

 ** _-Begin OST:Halo Brothers in Arms-_**

The sound of footsteps coming down toward them made the Spartans cock their heads back, to the sight of a woman clad in a grey armor, with red and white accents, more specifically, a stripe with red in the center and white around it on her right arm. She looked toward the Spartans from behind a polarized black visor, then asked Chief Williams "These our guests, Ash?"

"Aye aye." Ashley answered promptly, saluting. "Commander. We've got a squad of 7 Alliance Black Ops here..."

"Black Ops from the Alliance, huh?" Shepard said, crossing her arms. She shrugged "I'll buy that... CPO Flagg, was it?"

"Aye." Saluted 'Flagg'. He could tell the Commander wasn't falling for his bull. She nodded to him, then looked around to the Marines and yelled "Everyone! Get back to your posts! I'll handle the CPO and his crew." And he looked to Ashley, who became tense, then nodded and said "I have'em, Chief. Don't worry about a thing." To which, Jonah and the others immediately saw Ashley salute and back away, taking her helmet off her head and going back to her post. Shepard waved the group ahead onto the stairs and, as they got out of earshot from everyone else, within a part of the ship, a corridor with pods in it, she and they went to the farthest point. The woman leaned on the wall that was at the dead end of the Corridor, took her helmet off her head, then eyed each Spartan in the room.

The woman had blonde, chin-length hair and emerald eyes, as well as a small scar under her chin, resembling one nothing short of a Bayonet strike that narrowly missed her face. Her serious gaze kept the Spartans in a more tense manner than Jonah liked, but he sighed and broke the ice by asking calmly "You do know we were just saying bull, right?"

"About being Alliance Black Ops, or your names, 'Flagg'?" She said, then smiled "Nice way for getting out of trouble. Ashley can be a real nitpicker at times, but when she hears about you being Spec-Ops, well... She goes away out of fear." And then she chuckled and shook her head. Looking at the Spartans, she placed a hand on her chest, right next to an insignia denoting the name of the unit she was part of, 'N7', then said "Where are my manners... I'm Commander Jane Shepard, Alliance Navy... And I'd suppose you 7 are from that ship that just exploded out there."

 _ **-End OST. Begin OST:Monkeys Spinning Monkeys by Kevin Macleod-**_

"You..." Asaga swallowed "Saw that?"

"The explosion was so big, I think the folks back on Earth saw and heard it." Shepard deadpanned, straightening up. "Now... Your _real_ names, please?"

Jonah sighed, taking his helmet off his head, then answered "If you're not of our guys it's... Kind of impossible to tell you our names. Even if you were, I'd probably have to shoot you afterward."

"You're aboard _my_ ship." Shepard blatantly stated the obvious, jabbing a thumb toward herself "You follow _my_ rules. Now, really, Names? I told you mine and I figure it's polite to introduce ourselves to each-other."

Asaga nodded, then said "I can live with that..." With a grin, then extended her hand to Shepard and said "I'm Petty Officer Second Class Asaga. Callsign HADES-2" And she pointed to Jonah "This here's Ol' Man. Or, if you wanna go by his real name, Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Jonah. Callsign HADES ACTUAL." And, to that, Shepard shook her hand and looked to Jonah. " _Old Man?"_ She deadpanned "He doesn't look that old to me..."

Indeed, Jonah had somehow remained young in appearance. A probable side effect or PROJECT CHRYSANTHEMUM. Either way, the only difference from his past self before the Augmentations was that he now had white hair and silver eyes. A shallow little transformation... He nodded, then said "It's... Just a nickname the squad created for me... I'm the eldest of them currently in service with HADES."

 _ **-Abruptly end OST. Play OST:Wolfpack-Sabaton-**_

"Oh... Lemme guess, Age is classified too?" Shepard smirked, to which Jonah nodded dismissively. Shepard shrugged, then said "Okay then..." And she slid her helmet back on her head... Before the ship shook from its core. The Squad stumbled, trying to keep themselves balanced Shepard nearly tripped and fell, before Jonah promptly caught her arm and yanked her back. Another kinetic strike knocked thme off their feet however and, on the wakeup, fires erupted across the entire ship. The Spartans staggered to their feet and drew their firearms. Asaga helped both Shepard and Jonah up, then yelled "I THINK YOUR SHIP IS GETTING ATTACKED, SHEPARD!" promptly drawing her sidearm.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious..." Sighed Shepard, then she turned toward the corridor's console, tapping a few commands as Ashley came running toward them, clad in full armor, just like everyone else, then yelled "What the hell was that?!"

"It's what I'm trying to figure out, Ash! Until then, I'm dropping a beacon! I have a feeling the _Normandy_ won't be operating much longer!" Shepard Yelled. She looked to Ashley, then said "GUIDE THE CREW TO THE ESCAPE PODS!"

Ashley nodded, then stopped, holding her helmet and yelled "Joker's refusing to leave the ship! Said he thinks he can still save it!"

"I'll knock some sense into him!" Shepard barked, then she looked to Ashley and ordered "GET YOUR ASS MOVING TO THE ESCAPE PODS TOO, ASH! We'll be pulling him out!"

"I'm _not_ leaving you behind, Shepard!" The marine girl barked. Jonah grabbed her by the arm and said "Listen to your commanding officer, Chief! We've got her covered! If anything goes south, you're free to take vengeance upon me and my crew!"

"That is if _we_ won't be dead after this as well!" Asaga yelled. Ashley stared into Jonah's visor, grief visible even in her eyes... She sighed, nodded, then said "I'm taking you up on that, Chief!" As she jabbed a finger at Jonah. She looked to Shepard, then ran toward the pods, with the others. Shepard smacked a button and eleven thunks sounded off. The pods and the Beacon dropped from the hull. Shepard hit Jonah on the shoulder pad, then said "Follow me! Cockpit, up the stairs!"

The Spartans nodded, readying their firearms. They followed Shepard at a quick pace. The woman slid her hand over a holographic display console, a lock for the automated door, then it hissed open. The entire cabin decompressed, the fires behind them dying from oxygen Starvation. Jonah felt Zero Gees kick in again and he locked his boots, followed by the others, and with that, they all walked out.

The sight was incredible. The Ship's Combat Information Center had been gutted by the first blast. Whatever shot at them wasn't gonna wait around... Molten metal fragments and pieces of the Ship's innards floated through space, forming a sort of small debris field and the Spartans could see Plasma Scoring across the entire ship's top hull... Jonah swore in his thoughts, then looked back and said "Covenant?!"

"Attack Pattern doesn't match!" Yelled Andrew, in shock.

"Nor do the beam sizes! A Covenant Single Ship's lasers couldn't do this sizable damage to a ship! And I think we ditched the CCS-classes back home!" Damian shot back to Andrew, looking around as they moved beside Shepard.

"Uhh! GUYS?!" Irene cried in fear, pointing up... Jonah saw it. An alien ship that was part rock, part metal... All anger. Its ventral weapon was a Beam Cannon that could most likely gut through ships the size of the _Normandy._ It also had the configuration of a cruiser. They could see its weapon heat up, from bright red, to a burning orange and, finally, to a bright white light. Finally, the Space Walk got them through to the Cockpit just as the Alien ship prepared itself to sweep by and the Spartan moved with Shepard beside Joker. While Shepard and Joker talked, Jonah could see the man protesting against leaving the ship... Until the Spartan had had enough.

"Listen to me!" Jonah barked, placing a hand on Joker's shoulder "We don't know each-other! We haven't met before! I know how much a pilot or Helmsman cares about their ship, but _she_ isn't worth your Damn Life! Let me and Shepard take you to safety! We'll come back and recover the _Normandy_ after!" And he watched as the man's expression turned from a stern, tense one, to one of calm, of remorse and retreat. He sighed deeply, then said "Alright, get me up!" And Shepard helped the man. She looked to Jonah and nodded as she took the pilot to an escape pod situated right next to the seat. The woman set the helmsman down, then looked back to the Spartans, who were examining the CIC.

Another beam... Pure gold energy... It struck in front of Shepard and Jonah, sending the latter flying, his MAG Boots unlocking, and Shepard floating, due to the Artificial Grav module being disabled. The Cockpit was sheared off the ship's hull and beams gutted through most of the other side as Shepard finally hit the button, launching the pod with a screaming Joker in it. The man was calling her name... Jonah boosted himself using his legs to Shepard, grabbed her, then looked at his Spartans jumping off the damaged ship and moving toward them...

Floating through Space, Jonah could hear his own breathing as the Spartans converged to their position. Jonah felt Asaga's hand latch onto his shoulder, then saw her staring at him through an unpolarized visor. She nodded to him, then raised five fingers... Five minutes of oxygen? They'd not wasted that much time in space... Oh crap... The ship. He remembered now... Looking down, he saw Shepard holding onto his rig as Explosions ensued around them... Another beam struck beside the Spartans, sending three flying, whilst the other four tried forming up again with them... It was hopeless... Whatever they did, they were gonna fall from space onto that planet below...

The Spartan felt Shrapnel ping off his arms and armor, and saw Shepard grab onto the back of her helmet. One of the tubes had been cut, the one that fed Oxygen into her helmet... She was gonna suffocate! The Spartan tried his best to help her... But to no avail. He sighed, then watched as his Spartans formed up around them, grabbing onto Jonah's suit and doing their best to help Shepard. They wanted to stick together for now... If Hades was gonna die... They were gonna die together...

Fiery wisps formed around the eight people, of which one dead... Shepard went cold moments ago and nothing Jonah was doing was waking the young woman up. He watched his Spartans lock their armors and followed suit. He didn't wanna be caught off-guard by the sudden impact... Sighing deeply... He closed his eyes as his oxygen counter finally read 0... And it all went dark from there...

- **END OST-**

* * *

 _ **Lazarus... (AN:From here on out, it's gonna be exchanges of dialogue between Miranda and The Illusive Man and just a bit of description at the Start)**_

A young woman, clad in a skin-tight white suit, with black accents, pushed her long, wavy raven hair over her shoulder as she walked toward a com panel... Her first mission was a success. She'd recovered Shepard and... A few more subjects from the Crash Site of the SR1. What came next, however, was gonna be the hard part... She sat on the Com Platform as a holographic ring extended around her, scanning her body for projection. In front of her, a small screen. Her boss appeared...

" _Did you find them?"_

"Hello to you too, sir..."

" _Operative Lawson... Did you find her?"_

"Yes. We recovered Shepard off Alchera. Well... Her and seven others."

" _Seven?"_

"Yessir. Away teams reported that we've recovered seven other soldiers. All of them were carrying armaments and equipment we didn't know about. Armor, weapons, grenades and other systems are just... They're unknown to us."

" _Were they with Shepard?"_

"They'd formed a circle around Shepard, a Drop Pod of sorts if you will... When they landed, their combined armors were hardened enough to withstand the fall from Atmosphere. But the wounds they received are... Major... Trauma, internal bleeding, bones that are literally dust inside their bodies, the only one with no traumatic damage, aside from being... Well, _dead_... Is Shepard... I-"

" _Miss Lawson. If you found them with Shepard, you know what to do."_

"I know what to do... But that also means _Lazarus_ as a whole may need more funds."

" _You will get your funding, Miss Lawson... Keep me updated on the progress."_

"Will do, sir."

* * *

 _"Well?"_

"We've finished the basic implants up to this point and are beginning work on Cellular reconstruction. With any luck, we'll have rebuilt their bodies in a couple of months... A-074, B-117, B-015, B-301, B-034, B-076 and B-273 are showing signs of neural activity... As well as Element Zero presence."

" _Forgive me for asking, Operative... Why the numbers and lettering?"_

"It's due to the Dog Tags we've found on each of Shepard's new 'friends'. A-074 has the highest ranking among them... We can consider him the Leader... I wish to investigate their armors. From what little we've seen of the preliminary findings, all Armor sets have some incredible Active Camouflage capabilities that allow them to blend within the space they're in with almost incredible perfection."

" _Denied."_

"Why, sir?"

" _We wish for the Seven to trust us and I fear that meddling with their Armors may prove... Unwieldy. What of their weapons?"_

"Modified to the utmost extent to allow the utilization of Heat Sinks. We've also recovered a Gunship which we believe is theirs, also stocked with dozens of duffel bags full of weapons and ammo that we modified on the spot. It's armed and armored, more so than our Kodiaks... Care to add _that_ to the modifications you desire to do for the SR-2's internal layout? Another room to house the aircraft in?"

" _Yes. What of the ammo for the Gunship, then?"_

"Also modified to fit with our Heavy Heat Sinks. Will allow the ship to fire an indefinite amount of missiles and chaingun rounds. It's currently at Minuteman, waiting assignment to the SR-3."

" _Perfect... What of Shepard?"_

"Showing neural activity on-par with the Seven. Seeing as how things are going... I'd say you need to give us four more months."

" _Very well, Operative Lawson. Update me when they're ready for the wake up. Illusive Man out."_

* * *

 _"Operative Lawson?"_

"They're ready..." Stated the girl with a hint of a smile. "Two years and trillions of Credits... We've rebuilt them. All of them are ready."

 _"Then I await to see them in the Communications Room when they are all awake. Illusive Man out."_

* * *

 ** _AN:Woo! Long-ass Chapter man! But it was fun to write(As always). Next up, Wake Up TIME and combat aboard Station LAZARUS. 'Tis gonna be a jolly fight, ladies and gents._**

 ** _Well, until next time..._**

 ** _TOODLES~! :D_**


	3. Escape Lazarus Part 1:Awake and Alive

Jonah's head throbbed...

The man heard to a dozen voices screaming into his head and explosions thundering all around. He felt cold below him, steel. He was on an operating table?! How long had he... Where was... He rolled off the table and breathed in, looking about, to the sight of all of his comrades plus one... Commander Shepard spoke to him calmly "You finally awake, Spartan?"

He gave her an odd look before she clarified "Your kids told me about it..." And handed him an odd pistol. The woman was clad in a full set of armor, similar but somewhat different to the one Jonah saw earlier. Standing up, the man looked at his squadmates and at himself. All of them were wearing black-white fatigues with a strange golden symbol placed upon both shoulders. The shirts were short-sleeved and the pants looked like proper miltary attire.

He looked behind everyone, to see Asaga, the squad's redheaded XO, with a wide grin on her face, her emerald eyes shining with excitement and her hair let down from its usual tails position. The girl had a Katana in hand. Jonah stood up, staggering to his feet, then looked to her and pointed at the Katana. "'Twas a gift, boss." She smirked, brandishing it "From the folks here."

"Nice." Jonah nodded, then he looked at the Commander, raised the pistol and added "No ammo. Where do we find it?" And the woman nodded, then said "Little cylindrical objects. The slot of the ammo is where you'd usually find the mag catch." She pointed below the gun's handle at a circular hole, then lowered it and continued "You wanna say something to your crew before we go? I think we've just come back from the dead and... Well, you know."

The Spartan nodded, stood up and looked at his comrades, then authoritatively barked "HADES Team! Fall in!" making the six others immediately snap to, including Asaga. The Spartan exhaled, then continued "First of all, glad to see we're all still in a partially okay shape after the fall we took. Second, we don't know where the Hell we even are, but I intend to find out from the Commander once we're off the deck of this ship or station! Thirdly... And probably what you'll like..." He grinned, crossing his arms "Any non-human we encounter is Weapons-Free! Spartans, we're assets of ONI, the best of the best, ruthless killers! We ain't gonna show remorse to anything alien... We've been hunting bugs and Innies since we were all in diapers, so I'd say we got pretty proficient in the art of kicking ass!" He looked Asaga right in the eye "But I have a feeling we've been getting a little rusty! We've been on the OR tables here for god knows how long, so, will you prove me you still have the metal to deal with the enemy?!"

" _SIR, YES SIR!"_ The six chanted, most smiling widely. The Spartan grinned, then continued "Will you show me that you've still got the pair to win in this?!" And the S-IIIs of his team yet again cried " _SIR, YES SIR!"_ making his grin widen. He added "ALRIGHT! SHOW THE ENEMY NO MERCY, SPARTANS! HOO-RAH!" proudly and the six chanted back "HOO-RAH! HOO-RAH! HOO-RAH!" Raising their fists in the air. Shepard looked back to him, then nodded and said "You know how to motivate them."

"They're kids. Doesn't take a lot to pump them up." The Spartan answered, then he raised his pistol and started moving. The group swept up the area and Jonah punched a holographic button, making the door out of the place to slide open. Ahead of them, came a hallway riddled with bullet holes and dead civilians, clad in the same uniforms as them. Beside them, broken guns and, of course, the oh-so-precious ammo. The Spartan and Commander knelt, loaded rounds into their pistols and Jonah smirked, then twirled the gun and said "Gunslinger time."

The woman raised her eyebrow, then asked "You can gunsling?" Making the man nod. He cocked the pistol's bolt back, then said "C'mon, commander." And the group went through a door, where an overturned table resided. The Spartan looked at the boxes and table, then sighed and said "Poor sods must've tried to make a barricade... Well..." And he looked to Asaga, then waved her forward. "Sword-girl, you're the one up sweeping."

Asaga nodded, rolled the sword around and said "On it, boss!" And she vaulted over the obstacle, followed by the other, unarmed members of the team. Ahead of them, near by a window staring out into the black inkiness of space, a set of eight lockers. Shepard sighed, walking toward them, then said "The woman who woke me up, the one who's been caring for us... She said these lockers contain our armor and your weapons."

Jonah nodded, then said "Spartans! Gather 'round and grab your gear! Prep your duffel bags and hand the Commander a good gun!" And he opened the locker numbered with his Tag. He grinned, seeing his UNSC Standard-issue MJOLNIR armor still online, then he started putting it on. Within 20 minutes, the Spartans and Commander were all geared up with their state-of-the-art weapons and armor and Shepard received an MA5K for self-defense. The Spartan checked the weapons, which'd been modified to fit the ammo of this world... Heat Sinks. The Spartan, thankfully, had plenty of those in his pockets. Sliding his ammo into the AR's receiver and cocking the bolt back, the Spartan looked to Shepard and examined her jet-black armor, with a red stripe and white outline on the right hand and the N7 symbol on her chest, then said "Good as new, right, Commander?"

Shepard smirked. "Aye. Feels right." And she shouldered the bullpup Assault Rifle, looked down its iron sights and said "This is a fancy weapon. Where'd you get it?" To which the Spartan nodded and, before he had a chance, Asaga smugly said "Were we to tell you that, we'd have ta kill ya, Commander." showing her toothy grin to the commander, making the blonde chuckle. The girl immediately placed the helmet back on her head, then locked it into place. Before Jonah could say anything else, he felt a round bounce off his shield and his shoulder jolting back. Looking ahead, the Spartan regained his balance within seconds, drew his M6 Magnum and aimed it at a bunch of humanoid Mechs walking toward them. Two shots later, two mechs fell, headless, and exploded, sending shrapnel flying out into the third and fourth.

"UNSC Gunslinger." Smirked Jonah behind his helmet. Shepard grinned, raised her rifle, then squeezed the trigger. A short burst later, the mechs' internals were turned into scrap and they collapsed. Shepard lowered the rifle in front of her and, with a gaunt stride, walked ahead of him, the two keeping their gazes locked as she added "Alliance Military, controlled bursts." smugly. She nodded to them, turned around and started walking up the stairs from where the mechs came, looked back again and waved them forward, then said "Come on, then! I ain't getting any younger here!"

Asaga bumped her shoulder into Jonah's and nodded to him, depolarizing her visor, then she said "Speak of flirty, showoff." in a whisper. She gave the boy a smug grin, then re-polarized her visor and walked away. The rest of the squad chuckled, to which Jonah sighed and said "Let's move, Hades!" And he started ahead, drawing his DMR and cocking the bolt. He and Shepard were leading the squad together now. Walking through the door the mechs came out of, a burning corridor greeted them behind a glass wall, where two people were firing guns at an incredibly bulky Mech, whose two red optics locked onto them... Its machinegun arm rattled and killed one of the two, making the other turn around in fear and look toward the wall, slamming his hand into the glass and pleading for help.

"Shit..." Jonah said. The boy immediately cocked his hand back and sent a punch toward the glass, which took the full brunt of the hit, cracking in a spiderweb pattern across, but not breaking. The man looked at the window and gasped, to which Jonah yelled "Get back! I'm breaking it!" And he sent another punch into the crack, making the glass budge a little. The person behind the window screamed and they heard an explosion... Before Jonah could get through, he staggered back, seeing blood smeared against the glass. He swore behind his breath and said "... Nothing we can do... Let's move!"

"This is going to shit, real fast." Asaga murmured as they ran down the hallways. The Spartan swept the hallways ahead with her gaze. Sparks, blood splattered on the walls and corpses slumped on the floor. The Spartans walked past them, with Shepard close behind and, as they burst through a door, they saw a drum-fed weapon laying on the floor, in front of a glass pane which was attached to steel railing. Shepard grabbed the weapon off the floor, loaded three heavy rounds that were on the floor in it, then said "Take positions! Enemy Mechs incoming!"

The green lock to the door ahead lit up dark-red, then vanished and the door slid apart, revealing a squadron of 8 FENRIS Mechs, walking in a parade formation of two by two, their SMGs drawn, walking together. Shepard looked to the Spartans, then said "Stay down! I've got this!" And she popped out of cover, settled the weapon against the railing and said "EAT THIS!" as she pressed the trigger. Three projectiles screamed out of the weapon's mouth, ejected with quiet thunks and leaving contrails. The strange rockets slightly changed directions, then struck across the Mech line, shattering the lead line and rupturing a line of gas off to the side, which was ignited as the second and third grenades blasted apart the remaining mechs.

Shepard grinned, patted the weapon, then retracted it to its carry-form and placed it on her back, drawing the MA5K she received from the Spartans again.

As she and Jonah walked toward the elevator off to the side, Jonah added "Nice shot." politely.

"Thanks." Shepard nodded, tapping a few buttons. The Spartan looked back to his squad, then said "Alright, kids. Check your gear, make sure you're full on ammo. We don't wanna get caught off-guard." and slammed his hand into the clip of his rifle, making it click as he dropped an empty, charred heat sink from it and slammed a fresh one in. Shepard looked to him as the elevator clanged to a halt on the platform filled with LOKI remains, then sighed and looked at the fire escaping from the left-hand wall duct. Shepard sighed, then said "Just run at top speed right through it. Your barriers should keep you safe." setting the weapons on her back.

Jonah nodded, then said "Ladies first." waving Shepard forward. The woman grinned, then said "What a gentleman." Sarcastically. She took a running stance, then burst into a sprint and ran right through the fire, leaving an open path. Jonah nodded to the others and said "See you on the other side..." then burst into a sprint and dived right through the fire. He didn't feel the heat, but he did hear the shields screech and saw the bar drop by a bit.

As the others followed, the group immediately came upon an atrium in which fighting was ongoing. Bullets struck the chairs and glass railing and panes behind and in front, respectively, of a man of African origin, clad in a black uniform with the symbol of the company that seemingly revived them. Jonah looked past the railing, to see a massive abyss and, across it, another set of railing, with two elevators and a squadron of 15 Mechs firing away. Jonah, from cover, signaled Asaga and the others forward with quick hand motions, to which they all nodded and each ran to their designated position.

Shepard nodded to Jonah, who raised his MA5K and fired at the Mechs, allowing the woman to rush ahead and duck in cover, next to the man. He looked at her, eyes wide, then gasped and inquired "Shepard?!" then he glanced a cross the hall as the Spartans of Hades returned fire, then said "And all other subjects... Christ, things must be bad if Miranda has all of you walking about."

Jonah joined the two, his shields slightly flaring as rounds struck them. He skidded to a halt and fell to his knees, then switched to his DMR, raised it over the railings and shot. He looked to the man, then said "What's your name, trooper!" To which the man answered "Jacob Taylor! I'm the hired gun sent to defend Lazarus Station and the project in itself!"

"Lieutenant Jonah, Hades Squad!" The Spartan answered, then he popped over his cover and shot the heads off three Mechs. He looked at Shepard "Let's get the fuck outta here before things get worse!" And he reloaded his rifle. Shepard nodded and said to the soldier "I'll ask you the questions I want to know when we're out of here, Jacob! For now, I'm just content with getting the hell off this station!"

"Couldn't agree more!" Jacob jovially said, then he added with a smirk "I'm a biotic, so let me know when you want me to hit'em with the good stuff!"

He stood up, raised his hand as a purple Aura formed around him and pulled a mech off its feet, then shot its head off with his pistol. Jonah smirked behind his mask, then said "Neat. But can you do this?" The Spartan then drew a revolver from his back pocket, loaded 6 .45 rounds in it, then stood up and said "It's High Noon, boys!" And rapid-fire knocked the heads off six more Mechs without aiming.

"Wow." Jacob said, then he drew his SMG and fired, to which Jonah looked back at the rest of the squad, raised his hand, clutched his fingers into a fist, then brought the hand down. Immediately after, he pushed Jacob down to the floor beside Shepard and they heard the symphony of assault weapons tearing through the mechs, which were protesting, saying their damages and being blasted apart by the hail of bullets.

Within seconds, Jonah raised his unclasped hand and saw to the shooting gallery immediately ceasing fire. He exhaled, stood up and got both Shepard and Jacob off the floor, to which the two dusted themselves off and looked on, in awe, at the sight of the six Spartans, the barrels of their heavy weapons still smoking after being fired. The Spartans lowered their weapons and Jonah said "Good shooting, you lot."

"Good shooting is an understatement..." Jacob muttered woefully, looking back at the bullet-riddled balcony across from them.

"More like filling a hall full of lead." Shepard smirked, checking her MA5K. "Shall we? We still have to get off this station." and she gave Jacob a condescending look. The group moved together out through the doors, before Jacob heard a plea for help from his Omnitool and looked at it...


	4. Escape Lazarus Part 2:Off the Station

The Spartans checked their weapons as they walked through the door, but they stopped as they heard Taylor's omnitool.

" _Is anyone there? Help me... Please..."_

Jacob's eyes widened as he added "Wilson? That you?" to which the man answered " _Jacob? You're alive?!"_ And the Spartans gathered 'round, weapons in their arms. Jacob nodded, despite knowing he couldn't be seen by the receiver, then said "Yeah. I'm alive. Shepard and the seven others are up as well." To which they heard a surprised gasp and an unintelligible, but equally surprised question... Then gunfire and a plea for help, muffled by the gunshots. Jacob growled, then shut down the omni-tool and said "That was Wilson."

"The guy who was around when I first woke up, right?" Shepard said, examining her Predator pistol. Jacob nodded, then said "Yeah. That's him. The Chief Scientist of this place. Worked 2 years to bring you all back, alongside everyone else here." To which Jonah sighed, then answered him "By the voice, he didn't seem very over-ecstatic we were still alive... Until the Mechs started shooting." the truth sitting in front of them.

"Truly curious." Asaga said, nodding. "But the boss is right. I know the difference between surprise and dismay and the fucker was in dismay..."

"We'll ask him when we find him... If he's still alive." Shepard retorted, checking her weapons. She nodded to them and said "Let's move!" To which everyone nodded. Jonah said "Right... Commander, I have an idea relating to rescuing more people. We split up my squad. I go with you and then there's three pairs of two to sweep around." And Shepard nodded, then said "Alright. Tell'em who goes with who, then follow me and Jacob. We've got a job t odo."

Jonah nodded, then whistled and the squad immediately formed up. He looked around and said "Alright, everyone. We're splitting up! Form into pairs of two and head out together. You're to sweep the station as fast as possible and, with any survivors you find, retreat to the evacuation deck! I'll have my NAV Point online so you can converge!" And he looked at everyone, then started "Standard split up pattern. Hades 2 and 3, you're together. Cole, take care of Asaga. I still need her as my XO for some missions." To which the two Spartans saluted, Asaga with a smirk. The redhead added "I'll do my best not to get knackered, boss, but just in case I can't, I'll have Cole carry my sorry ass."

"Yeah." The boy said, patting his duffel bag full of meds. "I'll leave this with you and we'll only be carrying two biofoam cans for now, Pops. Just in case."

The boy immediately swept the luggage from over his shoulder, pulled out two cans of biofoam and the needles for them, then handed Jonah the bag, which he promptly slung over his shoulder, then nodded and said "Taylor. Give me a map of the place too... I'll want my crew not scouting in the dark." To which Jacob nodded and said "Transferring data on the Lazarus station to your Omnitools... Just move your hands and they should show up."

Asaga and Cole immediately saw the strange, orange gauntlets much like Jacob's envelop their left hands. The gauntlets were formed of a thick rear section, which housed a screen and basically acted like a TACCOM, a very strong computer, and the front, which was formed of three rings, two concentric, above and below their hands and one ring touching the lower ring's side as it extended forward, with an extra semicircle at the front that looked like a pommel, all of this hardlight.

"Wow... Fancy tech." Asaga's grin widened as she tapped a few lines. A holographic/hardlight screen appeared ahead of her and Cole, showing a three-dimensional map of Lazarus Station, as well as dots to show where the group was. The girl ran a hand through a pathing system and placed a waypoint over the ridge they just passed to the elevators from which the FENRIS mechs came from, then said "We'll take the lower personnel wing. Secure it and find survivors. Quick sweep."

"Gotcha." Cole said, drawing his MA5K and cocking it. Jonah nodded, then waved them forward and they left through a side door, to which Jonah called up 4 and 5 and asked them worriedly as he saw them look at the map "Alice, Damian. What'll you take?" And the two pointed at a secondary operating room, then Alice added "That place." happily. "Gotta help out the docs. They saved our lives, didn't they?"

"Aye." Jonah nodded his head and helmet, then said "Go secure'em, Hell Alice. Damian, keep her alive."

"I promise nothing, sir." Damian deadpanned, making Alice chuckle. She grabbed him by the wrist, then pulled him out of the room. 6 and 7, Irene and Andrew, respectively, took their positions, with Andrew handing Jacob his weapons duffel bag as well as the ammo one to Jacob. Irene smirked, the pointed at the Armory and said "That's our mark. If there's anyone that's gonna be holed up anywhere, it's the human security in the Armory." And she looked to Jacob "Unless you come from there, Jacob."

Jacob shook his head and said "FENRIS Mechs blocked my path. There's dozens of'em on the way there."

"Nothing I and Andy won't be able to handle." The girl proudly answered, checking her single-shot Grenade Launcher and grenades. "We got EMP Grenades to last us a few days of continuous anti-mech combat." And she leaned the launcher on her shoulder and drew her pistol, probably grinning behind her helmet. "C'mon, Andy. We got a job to do." And the boy nodded. The two ran out of the place, following another path through some pipes, as a shortcut. Shepard nodded, then looked to Jonah and said "C'mon. Let's go get Wilson."

Several bouts of fighting through mechs within the bowels of the station and through pipelines and maintenance corridors, the Spartan, N7 and soldier finally climbed out where Wilson's radar dot was located, within the main servers. Jonah swept the area around with his assault rifle, then looked to the floor, to see a trail of blood and a man leaning against a metal box... In front of him, behind the box, the station's servers and mainframe, all shining red and blaring with warnings, chock-full of holes from enemy weapons... Or so it would seem. Watching Shepard and Jacob rush to help the bald man, whom he could only assume was Wilson, he noticed the shot the man received in the thigh... Too strange... It looked like a close-in shot and at that angle?

The Spartan had seen wounds before, to every part of the body and all kinds of them... This one seemed too odd for him... Alas, his suspicions would have to wait... He tapped his microphone and linked up on COMM Channel one, then said "Hades-2, -3. Status?"

Asaga's voice came over, calm, as Jonah's group walked out of the room. " _We're nearly done sweeping the crew deck now, boss... Nobody's alive. We've had two encounters with Mechs, but nothing else_." to which Jonah sighed and said "Alright. Finish the sweep and RV at the extraction point. I'll check the others. Hades Lead, out." And he switched to channel two, then said "Hades-4, -5. Report."

Damian's calm, dull voice came through the comm, with a slight change in tune " _We're clear here. Nothing in the vicinity, human or otherwise, sir. We're converging on your position now. Hades-5 out."_

"Copy..." Jonah let out an exasperated sigh. No survivors, two for two... He flicked the comm to channel three, only to instantly hear gunfire blaring into his ear. He stopped, then asked "Irene, Andrew, status?" to which Irene's voice came over the com " _Taylor wasn't kidding, boss! We're going through a gauntlet of fucking mechs here! And I see two big guys trying to break through the armory door! Seems like someone's still alive in there!"_

"Copy that." Jonah said, then he flicked through both COMM Channels, linking them, and said "Attention, teams. Head to reinforce Irene and Andrew. Possible survivors discovered at the Armory. Heavy mech concentration."

" _Roger that!"_ The two teams replied and the Comm feed cut. Shepard rushed to his side, then asked "What's the word?"

"Survivors in the armory. Just as predicted. Everywhere else is a bust." The Spartan answered, then he crossed his arms and said "I've got the other four to help the team. We should clear a path for them to the shuttles, like we've been doing so far."

Shepard nodded, cocked her weapon and said "Lead the way, Lt. I'll let the others know about this development..."

* * *

 _ **Near station armory...**_

"MMMMMOTHER- _FUCKER_..." Irene swore over the gunfire around them, firing an EMP grenade upward and bouncing it off the ceiling, into three mechs, then setting it off, shutting down the three mechs in an instant. Andrew's pistols whispered and the heads of six more mechs flew off, before the boy was forced to reload. There were 15 more FENRIS units in front of them and two YMIR Heavies trying to burst through the door.

"Watch your profanity, Irene!" Smirked Andrew, firing from the box he'd taken cover behind. Irene sighed, then bounced another EMP 'nade off the roof and set two mechs into overdrive, basically blowing them apart via electricity. The girl checked her belt, then raised five fingers and said "Down to five EMP rounds!" and Andrew sighed, then said "Keep them for the big guys! If we even get to them!"

The girl sighed and drew her Assault Rifle, then fired bursts, knocking the legs off the mechs, but bullets scratched against their cover. The girl growled as she had to duck into cover. The Spartans immediately heard a hearty, shrill battle cry and looked back. Irene smirked, then said "ASAGAAAA~!" As she saw her friend burst through. Two sniper shots echoed past the red-armored girl's head and nailed two mechs, then she raised a pair of EMP grenades and threw them, shattering the last remaining mechs, except for the YMIR pair...

"Well, shit..." Asaga said, then she handed Irene a Sparrowhawk cradle, with a grin and a tube of rockets. "Looks like we're wasting one of your explosive babies, sweetheart."

Even if she couldn't see the girl's face, Asaga saw her twitch and heard a joyful squeak from the girl as she assembled the rocket launcher, then set it on the box and yelled " _SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!_ " before firing both rockets, one at one mech and one at another, while the others poured lead downrange... Two heavy explosions and damage sounds later, the group heard another secondary explosion and saw the mechs shatter, with the head skidding to a halt in front of Asaga, who stopped it with her foot and grinned, then took her helmet off and said "Nice job, everyone. HADES Teamwork still shows..." then waved them forward.

She walked to the door as everyone else cleared the path, checking the mechs to make sure they were dead, and she stopped, knocking on the door. She heard a panicked voice from inside yell "WHO IS IT?! PLEASE, DON'T BE MORE MECHS!"

"We're human!" Asaga said, then she showed herself to a door cam and said "Look!" and flaunted her hair back, with a smile. "Don't worry ,guys... We're here to help you evacuate..."

"You're... One of the subjects... Oh, thank the lords!" The woman on the other side said, pressing a few buttons. She and another three people walked out, to which Asaga smiled and said "That was easy... Follow us to the Evac area."

* * *

 _ **Evacuation area.**_

The last mech lost its head and exploded moments later, as the group formed up ahead, at the door to the hangars and evacuation shuttle. It'd taken them little time to clear this area out, since the mechs here were only FENRIS-class. Jonah looked back and told everyone "I'll wait for my team. Tell whoever it is piloting not to leave yet." And Shepard nodded, then walked toward the door with Jacob and Wilson.

Jonah was thankful he didn't have to wait long, to see his Spartans forming up ahead of him, right through a door from the elevator off to the right. They got up onto the catwalk with four people beside them, all civilians. Jonah sighed in relief, then said "C'mon, guys... Let's go." And he turned about, with Asaga following close behind. He nodded to the redhead and said "Nice job ,sarge."

"Thanks." she jovially responded, slinging her rifle onto her back "It was noth-"

A gunshot...

The Spartans snapped their pistols to greet the assailant, only to see Wilson with a bullet hole the size of a thumb between his eyes, blood dripping onto the floor and a woman clad in a white latex suit with black bodygloves and tight heeled boots, as well as raven hair and blue eyes. She had an evil scowl on her face as she lowered her pistol, which immediately turned soft, calm, as she sighed. Shepard and Taylor, as tense as the Spartans, protested... Before Jonah walked up and butted in.

"I knew the fucker was up to no good..." Jonah looked to Shepard and Jacob, then handed them a tablet he managed to pickpocket from the motherfucker, detailing a job to kill both Shepard and them, as well as anyone on the station, and the transferred payment into his pockets. 7000 credits. Shepard looked at both of them with awe, then asked Jonah "How did you figure it out?"

"Entry wound is at a strange angle... Figured it had to be a ploy to get to us..." Jonah smirked.

"Smart observation, Lieutenant." The woman from beside him said, to which Jonah responded "Still didn't need to be killed. Interrogation would've been preferable... Miranda Lawson, correct?"

The woman nodded, then said "Another astute observation... We should leave. This station's done with." And she noticed the survivors, then smiled and said "Alas, thank god they got a few more survivors."

"We're off, then... I still have some questions about all of this..." Shepard growled, then looked to them "But I'm willing to leave this place... I've had about enough of this station to last me a lifetime."

"Or two, in all of our cases." Asaga smirked, walking past all of them. Everyone walked up to the shuttle, then boarded it and grabbed their gear. The shuttle took off and left the station, without a single thought over it all...


	5. Minuteman:Illusive Man

_**Shuttle. Currently in FTL.**_

Jonah exhaled, then removed his helmet and placed it in front of him, on the floor of the shuttle. The small Kodiak-class Shuttle was enough to fit all of the escapees, including his Spartan team, though barely. Add to that their luggage, it was cramped. The Spartan looked at the six seats across from them and saw the people, all apparently agents of an organization named Cerberus, a pro-human military-economic power in the Galaxy, from what he'd heard of Shepard, Taylor and Lawson's chatter. Pro-human meant there'd be aliens around... Good. They'd have what to shoot at.

He felt movement beside him as Asaga shuffled back into her seat. The eight seats they were on were enough to fit the squad and Shepard into, but again, just barely. With Jonah's bulky MJOLNIR armor and the others' armor and gear, it made it feel really cramped. Alas, better than the escape pod. The Spartan looked outside, as space rushed past them at superluminal speeds, almost retelling of Slipstream Space, a nauseating trip Jonah had experienced one too many times while wide awake. He still remembered his stomach turning inside out at every single trip. He'd gotten used to it on the _Diamond in the Rough._ Hell, he'd not eat anything an entire day when he knew they'd Slipspace out.

Asaga's shoulder nudge took him out of his trance and he glanced at the young girl without her helmet on and her usual happy demeanor plastered on her face in the form of a simple smile. She pushed a bit of her red hair over her shoulder, then whispered "I have a feeling they'll be taking us under interrogation now." jovial as always.

Jonah shrugged "So?"

"So, do you want to tell'em we're coming from a secret mission, Chief?" And she added her trademark smirk to that rhetoric question "Or should I tell'em?"

"Let's leave that for another discussion, Asaga. I don't trust them quite yet." Jonah answered, stoic as always, then he glanced toward Miranda and Jacob, who had just finished talking to Shepard. Lawson looked toward Jonah, catching his glance, then said "Lieutenant. We also have some questions for you." quite strongly, to which Jacob interjected "If you don't mind, sir."

Jonah gave the two a glare that could kill a Scarab tank, then said "I do mind." and saw Jacob back off, while Lawson remained steady on her position. She crossed her arms, then said "Why so?" and Jonah answered promptly "I don't like organizations I don't recognize to talk to me. You pro-human folks with the UNSC? IF so, I can answer some questions, but very few... IF you're part of some ONI Subdivision, that's better for all."

"E-excuse us?" Miranda said, raising a brow in surprise and confusion. Jonah sighed, then said "Listen. I don't know what Human faction you lot represent, but I won't talk unless it is to my superiors. A Rear Admiral in the UNSC or, preferably, ONI. You can go to them for my life's story. Same for my kids'."

"The hell is the UNSC?" Asked Jacob, leaning toward them. Jonah's brow cocked up in surprise, before he told them "UNSC, or the United Nations Space Command. It's the main military organization of humanity, protector of our homeworld, Earth and her Colonies and currently the organization that controls everything, as we're at war with a hostile, xenophobic alien alliance, something a person living under a rock would also know." and he stood up, head nearly reaching the ceiling of the shuttle. He crossed his arms, then continued "ONI, or the Office of Naval Intelligence acts as our spy, intelligence, weapons development and main SPEC-OPS program. It has many branches and units under its command. Some even say more than the UNSC, which'd be true if they were separate entities."

Jacob looked at him, then stood up and said "If you mean the Earth Alliance and all our military programs, sure... But there's nothing named UNSC or ONI around these parts."

The seven Spartans all froze, with Jonah staring at Jacob in a bit of shock. The weight of the air became unbearable and Shepard could feel it. She had to break the ice (and the sudden staredown that had ensued between the Spartan and the Cerberus soldier) before someone was gonna get thrown out of the airlock, both figuratively and literally. She stood up and stepped in between the two soldiers, then said "Settle down." And she looked to Jonah, then said "Just answer the questions quickly. You'll be rid of them easily that way and I won't have to witness someone's arm getting ripped off."

Jonah stared at Shepard for a moment, sighed, then nodded and sat down. He looked to Lawson, arms crossed, then said "Ask away. Let's get this damn thing over with..." With just a hint of boredom in his voice. Miranda nodded, then flicked on her Omnitool and read the questions "Do you have a full name and service record we should know about? We recovered dog tags with all of you, but there was only your first names..."

"Classified and classified." Jonah promptly and happily answered her, leaning forward calmly. "ONI's tightly-kept secrets. I don't even recall having a family to be named after."

"That's strange." Jacob said, to which Jonah merely nodded and retorted "Yeah, but hell... That's why we were fighting in the first place, for the families we lost. Many of our worlds were burned to glass and ash when the enemy found them. From orbit. Millions died within the blink of an eye."

Shepard looked to the kids, then said "I'm sorry to hear that you guys lost families. This alien alliance you're fighting must be quite a pain."

"Eh." Asaga waived it off like it was nothing, then said "Don't worry about it, Commander. We've had plenty'a'run-ins with'em." And she gave the girl a thumbs up "Ain't nothing that got us worried!"

Shepard smiled, then nodded and pushed a bit of her blonde hair over her shoulder. Miranda nodded, then said "Anything we should know about these aliens in case we encounter them, Lieutenant?"

Jonah's crisp nod came, then he responded wearily "Stay fast, stay low... And pray that the Covenant can't target you with their full Plasma arsenal. What happened to Shepard's ship is a cakewalk."

"You mean to tell us that this alliance, the Covenant, has access to energy weaponry?" Miranda inquired, in awe, to which Jonah nodded and said "Aye. Plasma and laser cannons on the ships. Pulse lasers, plasma and kinetic energy weapons with HE ammunition for the ground troops. A single plasma torpedo would've been enough to vaporize the _Normandy._ I can thus speculate what hit us was nothing but a low-frequency energy beam... But who shot it, only god knows."

"Understood..." The pair of Cerberus agents said with a bit of awe. Jonah nodded, then said "If that was all..." And sat down nonchalantly, grabbing his helmet off the floor and slinging it on his head, then locking it into place. The Spartan felt a sudden deceleration and heard a quiet thunk, then looked outside, to see that the blue waves of energy from their FTL had just turned into inky black, dotted by white speckles and in the distance, a bright ball of fiery white, behind a strange station, that resembled a quarter of a circle, with a line running across the top, all the multiple decks, and a spire piercing the middle of the entire superstructure, with blue lights running across the quarter-circle and multiple other lines of light across the rest of the structure.

"Wow." Asaga said, looking at the station with a wide grin. "That's some big station."

"That's Minuteman." Miranda said, walking toward the window beside them. "I traveled between it and the main Lazarus site quite often... And it stores all kinds of useful data about your reconstruction."

"I'd love to see some of that data." Cole added with a smile. Miranda sighed and said "Much like your data, ours is classified to an extent. You can ask our boss about it when we land."

She heard a disappointed sigh from the young medic, then sighed and said to the pilot "Bring us about and land us." then she sat down next to Jacob. Jonah nodded and told everyone to follow suite quietly, then sat on his seat and prepped his gear. The shuttle slowly flew into the Hangar, then set down softly on the landing pad of the cavernous place, where dozens of other shuttles had been landed. Walking into a waiting area, that was full of chairs and such, Jonah saw a terminal off to the side of one of the rows, a railing overlooking a large window out into space and on the right, a customs office with three people manning the consoles.

Miranda settled herself upon the terminal, then pointed back at a stairway and said "My boss is waiting for you in the other room. Go down there when you want to speak with him..." And she glanced at both Shepard and Jonah, a bit irritated as she looked at the commander, then said "Both of you."

Jonah nodded and looked to Shepard, then said "Let's go... You can fill me in on all the info you got from them while we walk..."

"Okay then." Shepard nodded, then waved him forward. The two took the walk toward the stairwell slowly and Jonah watched his team settle... Before looking toward Shepard and asking "How many years?" concisely.

"Excuse me?" The girl asked, brow raised.

"How many years? I know they told you, Shepard..." The Spartan said, crossing his arms. Shepard sighed, then raised her hand and lifted two fingers, to which Jonah shuddered in his armor... God knew how the war effort for Humanity could've changed in two fucking years. Hell, two HOURS was enough for the Covies to significantly fuck something over back at home... But they knew nothing of how far away from home they were... He had a hunch from the start this wasn't their Galaxy anymore.

Jonah exhaled in annoyance as they went down the stairs. "Damn... Too long for my taste... And I don't think the kids'll be to keen on this."

"I can agree with you on that." Shepard answered. "I've told Jacob and Miranda to tell them eitherway... Sorry if that went over your orders or something."

"It's fine..." Jonah murmured. "Better they find out now than later, when we're already engaged in whatever this Cerberus company brought us back for. Or you."

Shepard nodded, then said "Positive thinking's good."

"Yeah, doesn't mean the kids won't try to rip shit up because of this unwarranted, not to say surprising awakening from the grave." Jonah responded as they finally arrived in the room, a desolate place, with a mechanical set of concentric rings below and above them. Shepard examined the floor, then said "Holographic communication device. Fancy." And the two stepped in... Around them, a strange orange hologram formed and Jonah felt himself being scanned by the device... And on a screen ahead, the image of a middle-aged man, sitting in a chair, appeared. He took a puff of his cigarette, then flicked a bit of ash into the tray off to the side, his mechanical blue eyes staring at them intently.

"Ah... Commander Shepard. And the man beside you, clad in that heavy armor, must be the Lieutenant. What a pleasure to see both of you on your feet." The man said with a smirk. Shepard brashly and responded in clear annoyance "And you're the owner of Cerberus. The Illusive Man. Spare us the pleasantries and skip straight to the point."

The man sighed, then said "Very well, Commander... As brash as I read, it'd seem." He interlocked his fingers and leaned ahead, then said "We awoke you because of a threat we both know of... But the Galaxy seems to keep away from all."

"The Reapers?" Shepard inquired, a bit shocked. The Illusive man nodded and said "Yes... We believe they may be returning."

Shepard sighed, then said "Then we need to warn the Council... They may-"

"The same Council that didn't believe you when the Sovereign showed up." The Illusive Man retorted, then looked toward the Lieutenant and said "Forgive us if this is confusing. Shepard should explain everything to you."

"If something's threatening Humanity, I don't give two shits of not knowing about it. I wanna help." The man answered, crossing his arms. The leader of Cerberus smirked, then nodded and said "Very well... Going onto the subject at hand, commander... Entire Human colonies have started going missing." He took a puff from his cigarette again, then added "And we need someone to investigate."

"Missing? As in?" Shepard crossed her arms. She seemed clearly unbelieving of this story.

"Just missing, Commander. The people all vanish without a trace, no explanation, no proof, no news of how... No witnesses. Not even the defensive perimeters are active. All of this is currently ongoing in the Terminus systems." The Illusive Man responded, flicking a bit of ash into the tray. "The latest colony to be hit is Freedom's Progress, a relatively close colony from this area of space. Operative Lawson and mister Taylor will brief you on the way there."

Jonah wanted to butt in, before Shepard grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up the stairs. She looked to him, then said "You really aren't from around here, are you? You want to help a terrorist organization there, pal?"

"Terrorists?!" Jonah asked, brow raised. She nodded, then said "Yeah. They're freaking terrorists, out to stain our good name among the Citadel species... There's dozens of council member species and these guys want us to rule everything."

"That's a bad thing?" Jonah asked, crossing his arms. Shepard scowled, then sighed and said "Yes, it kind of is. Humanity just gained a seat on the council and I don't want us switching about and letting these fucks kill off all Aliens... Be damn sure they'll be hurting humans too, if it's the Citadel they wanna deal with." And she stopped as they walked up the stairs, then said "We're in a temporary alliance with them. until we deal with these abductions... Otherwise, this is my job and mission, understood?"

"Aye. Clear as day..." Jonah said... So the Aliens and humans here were friends... He needed to learn more of this, but for now... He'd have to establish himself out around and help Shepard to the best of his abilities. The man raised his hand and spun his finger, making the entire Squad stand up and form up around him, then, as Shepard talked to Miranda and Jacob, he looked to them and said "I want two of you with me. The others are to stay here and hold down the Fort until we come back... Cole, Damian, with me. Asaga, you and everyone else stand your ground here and wait for us to come back."

"Aye." Asaga nodded, slinging her rifle on her back. "Any exposition you wanna give out, boss?"

Jonah nodded, then walked up, face-to-face with Asaga and whispered in her ear "The people of this organization are apparently terrorists, Asaga... Keep your guns up or your safeties off, at least. They do anything rash, don't hesitate to shoot." to which Asaga nodded and said "Don't worry, boss. We've got this." And she winked at him, then tossed them extra ammo and a pair of Biofoam cans and said "You take care out there. Watch your reticle and fire only when fired upon... As per usual."

"Right." Jonah smirked, nodding to her. He turned about and saw Shepard wave him forward, a new set of gear on her including new weapons, then nodded and started walking. The Spartans whom he'd called followed him to the door and the group saluted Asaga and the remaining others one last time before departure and left. Going through, into the shuttle, with their gear strapped to their bodies and nothing else...

 _No rest for the wicked, as the saying went..._

* * *

 ** _AN:I realize this stuff is getting odd and there's little to no exposition or dialogue going on, but trust me, I know what I'm doing... It's just that school's been fucking me over quite a lot lately... Alas..._**

 ** _Hope you enjoyed as I'm about to finish the prologue next and finally start the story... There's some things you should expect..._**

 ** _A bigger Normandy SR2! YEEEEEEEEEEE~! (Because Cerberus needs space for the whole Spartan team and then some)_**

 ** _References to other series..._**

 ** _Maybe characters from other series making Cameos/becoming part of Shep's team..._**

 ** _Some backstories and events added in..._**

 ** _And some new members and OCs joining Shepard's team(BECAUSE BIGGER NORMANDY, YEEEEEEEEEE~!). If you want to send an OC, I've got two spots open now, so send your files via PM._**

 ** _Here's the format of the Personnel file:_**

 ** _Character Name:_**

 ** _Species(Between Asari, Turian, Krogan or anything humanoid like this. No Hanar or such, please... Just these guys we've seen before in Shepard's crew)_**

 ** _Class:_**

 ** _Weapons:_**

 ** _Bio(Data on them, including homeworld and age):_**

 ** _Skills and Powers:_**

 ** _And that's that... Thank you for reading and see you guys next time. This is Johnnieboy and all I can say..._**

 ** _TOODLES~!_**


	6. Freedom's Progress and the SR3

**_Shuttle En-route to Freedom's Progress_**

Shepard kept glancing toward Jonah, Cole and Damian as the three soldiers stood in their corner of the shuttle, loading up weapons and gear into the chest rigs of their titanic power armor sets. She had noticed before that the only one wearing a heavier, bulkier and larger set of armor was Jonah himself. Looking at the man carrying an entire arsenal on his person, the woman could only help but wonder what this entire squad was so geared up for. What their earlier objective had been... And where in God's name they were from...

"Ahem..." Miranda cleared her throat, taking Shepard's attention away from the soldiers. The two women glanced at each-other and Shepard nodded, then said "Let's continue with the little tests while we're on our way to Freedom's Progress." And Miranda nodded "As we thought we should." And she glanced at her active Omnitool, then said "Your file says you were an Earth-born orphan, who lived in the streets of San Francisco, fighting for every scrap of food to stay alive. Correct?" she glanced up at Shepard. The commander nodded and said "I still remember my last year, clear as day, back on Earth. Yeah, it's correct."

Miranda nodded and said "Very good... Continuing on:After coming of age, at 18, you enrolled in the Alliance Marines. Through some assignments, you quickly ascended to Sergeant rank and were commanding your own squad. During the Skyllian Blitz, when the Batarians invaded, you successfully lead the defenses on Elysium with your squad and the local planetary defense units after your commander had been slaughtered, repelling the Batarians and saving everyone that was with you behind the barricades. The profile of a War Hero, as many would call you."

"I recall the day the bastards landed on Elysium, the losses we took and the letters I had to write to some poor parents somewhere in the Alliance space... I don't consider myself a hero for doing what I had to do. If not me, who else would've?" Shepard responded calmly and with humility, but her eyes showing a bit of sadness as the images of the defense reran through her mind. Jacob nodded, then said "I had friends who went to Elysium and I've lost some of them during the Blitz, Commander. I can understand how you feel. Still, can't say it wasn't great hearing about what you've done there. Saved a lot of lives, too."

Shepard nodded to Jacob, then looked to a distraught Miranda "Next?"

"Ah, yes." Miranda responded with a nod, snapped out of her stupor. She looked at her data, then said "During the defense of the Citadel against the Sovereign's attack, it says here that you chose to tell Hackett that the Alliance fleet should defend the Asari vessel _Destiny Ascension_ , sacrificing the lives of hundreds of humans to defend the Citadel Council. This was after you achieved your Spectre status, as the first human Spectre and during the final leg of the hunt against Saren. As thanks to Humanity's contribution, the Council allowed you to elect someone from our species as Council member. You chose your old commander, Captain David Edward Anderson. Correct?"

Shepard gave her approval, then added with a warm smile "I could not think of a better man to be the head of the human representatives on the Citadel. Anderson had seen hell with his own two eyes and lived to tell the tale. He chose me as part of the _Normandy's_ crew after the Skyllian Blitz. He seemed like a very good leader to me and I'm speaking from personal experiences."

"It's true. Anderson is a good man. He's still in function today." Jacob nodded "And he's been doing good too."

"Glad to hear. Any info on our soldiers over there, by the way?" Asked Shepard, pointing toward the trio of Spartans. Miranda shook her head and said "We just found them with you, on the planet."

"Guess we'll talk to them later..." Shepard sighed. She looked outward, to see the ship approaching the planet's surface. They'd entered atmosphere during the time they talked. Shepard stood up and drew her M8 Avenger rifle, loaded up a round and looked toward the trio of Spartans. Taking steps toward them as the shuttle prepped to land, the woman asked them "Ready, you guys?"

Damian cocked the bolt of his sniper rifle in response, then nodded and slung the rifle on his back, while Cole saluted, then said "Ready as we'll ever be, ma'am." and Cole quickly nodded and responded "Like Cole said. Ready as ever." yanking out his assault rifle from his back as the other two readied similar weapons. Shepard nodded and said "Good..." as the vehicle touched down with a quiet thunk. The door opened behind them and the soldiers jumped out first. The group saw they were landed on a stone platform in the middle of a large canyon of black, obsidian-like stone. In this canyon the entire settlement had been set up. Modular, white colony buildings that allowed for fast assembly upon deployment.

Lights were still on in most of the compound. Floodlights as if for a quarry. There was a building ahead, with a strange, green holographic lock floating in front of the door. Jonah scanned for cover around the door but found only a couple of boxes strewn about the landing pad. He signaled Damian to the farthest one from the door, then showed Cole to follow him. The young Spartan nodded, taking steps behind him as they moved toward the door... With Shepard, Lawson and Taylor advancing close behind. Jacob nodded to Jonah, then said "You know you have an omnitool, right?"

"Huh?" The soldier asked. Jacob nodded, then said "Flick your wrist. It'll activate."

Following the orders, Jonah flicked his left wrist slightly, allowing for a strange, orange shining holographic gauntlet to form around his current armored hand. Diagnostics started running in his armor and information scrolled across his HUD as the piece of technology adapted to his own. He saw data scrolling across and finally, as they closed in on the door, it locked onto the green holo-lock. The boy moved his hand slightly and the lock flashed, then vanished and the door proceeded to slide open. The place's Lights came on as they walked through, into a cafeteria and waiting room where the tables still had trays full of food, which'd gotten cold. Some of it even spoiled.

"Jeez... Looks like they just got up and left in the middle of dinner..." Sighed Cole, looking about.

Damian walked in, scanning their surroundings, then said "Not a positive sign... Would also explain why this place went dark."

Jonah's eyes locked onto his Motion Tracker, on which grey dots appeared, moving about erratically. Raising his hand and stopping everyone in their tracks, the man said "Keep your eyes on your Motion Trackers... I'm seeing dots outside."

"Jolly..." Sighed Shepard, readying her Avenger. Going through the back door and down the path, toward another door that linked through to the other side of a rock wall, the team took breaching positions as the dots ahead became red. Cocking their weapons, with Damian taking a sniping position at the back, Shepard nodded without a word and watched the door slide open. As soon as they did that, bullets struck the ground beside their feet. Jonah popped out of cover and fired a short burst from his AR. Bullets struck a metal plate and pierced through, but missed the enemy bot narrowly... The skeletal LOKI Squadron fired away from their SMGs, while the trampling of four-legged mechanized units was heard.

"FENRIS Mechs! Take them out before they burst your shields!" Miranda yelled to the soldiers. Damian was already on that. Slowly advancing, the boy scoped in two of the strange, quadrupedal dog-like mechs and shot once, twice. Two shots pierced one's 'head', a large camera-like item with two red eyes peering toward them, vertical rather than horizontal in arrangement. Glass shattered and both eyes exploded, the CPU was pierced and the mech fell dead, then exploded next to its buddy, knocking it over as well. Another shot burst right down between the mech's cameras and destroyed the second FENRIS.

Cole's AR Chattered and two more LOKI units fell as they advanced down a ramp, trying to flank them. The boy slammed a fresh heat sink into the weapon, then switched cover under fire. Shits whipped past his helmet and struck the metal containers as the boy fired blind from his weapon. Another mech lost its arm as the boy slid into cover and Damian's sniper thundered, taking the head off another, which caused it to explode.

Jonah drew a fragmentation grenade from his pocket, then yelled "Use your frags!" proceeding to throw it across the chasm where the other Mechs that kept them pinned were. An explosion blossomed and tore through the three remaining mechs on that platform, one of which went over the barricade they fired from and into a chasm of sorts, without an arm and left legless.

Two more baseball-sized grenades flew and landed in the middle of an advancing Mech unit, made up of 5 LOKI units and 1 FENRIS and detonated without delay. Sparks flew and shrapnel tore through the mechs, cutting internals and destroying CPUs. Thus, the final six red dots winked off the Motion Trackers of the Spartans. Jonah stood up, sliding his rifle on his back as Jacob sighed and aid "That shouldn't have happened. The security systems were offline at the other colonies that were hit. And if they were online, they should've seen us as human and stayed docile."

"Not everything goes as planned." Jonah responded, walking through toward Shepard. She nodded to him, then said "Guess not..."

The team continued their advance through a sleeping area and further down some ramps, the team swept clear and destroyed three more mechs guarding a building. Jonah looked toward Shepard as the woman attempted to open it, then said "Several contacts past this point. Grey, which means unknown." loading up his assault rifle. The woman nodded and said "Let's pray they ain't hostile, then."

The door slid apart, to reveal bipedal, humanoid creatures, squatting and kneeling beside a piece of machinery on the floor, two of them with their omnitools out... They were alien, just from the three fingers on their hands and strange, long toes and bent legs. Jonah, Cole and Damian immediately drew their weapons and aimed them toward the lot, of which five stood up and aimed shotguns and rifles at them.

"DROP THE FUCKING WEAPONS!" Jonah snarled at them, locking his eyes onto the man carrying an automatic rifle much like Shepard's.

"You first, Cerberus freak!" Responded one of them in a strange accent and modified voice. They were wearing environmental suits... Strange. Jonah chose to ignore that for now as he barked "My shields are stronger than yours, suit-boy! And I bet I can take even more punishment than you!" with Cole and Damian aiming their rifle and pistol, respectively, at the alien bunch.

"Just try me, _Bosh'tet_!" the alien snapped back, taking the safety off his rifle. Out from among both teams, two women swept in. Shepard walked ahead of Jonah and pushed his weapon and the others' down, then said "STAND DOWN, SPARTANS! Let me do the talking!" and another woman with a thinner voice, this one an alien, yelling to her team-mate "Dammit, Prazza! I said you have to let me do the talking!" and the two turned, to greet each-other's gazes with awe.

"Tali..." Shepard murmured, awed.

"Shepard? Is that... You're..." The alien girl responded in awe. "It's really you?"

"That data I gave you... Did it help you finish your Pilgrimage?" Smiled Shepard. Tali gasped, then grabbed Shepard and brought her into a tight hug then exclaimed happily "YOU'RE REALLY YOU!" to which the Spartans sighed, lowering their weapons. The guy behind her, Prazza, said "This is your Commander? What's she doing working with Cerberus?"

"I'll ask her in a minute..." Tali said, holding on tightly to Shepard, ecstatic... This was getting awkward. The two girls finally backed off after a few seconds and Shepard started explaining "I'm not working with Cerberus. They just rebuilt me. We're out hunting whatever made our colonies vanish. I... Have to ask though. What're you guys doing on a human colony? Quarians rarely leave their Fleet."

"We're here looking for one of our own. Veetor went on a pilgrimage here." Tali responded, crossing her arms. Shepard's brows quirked up and she said "Pilgrimage on a human colony... What's this about?"

Tali sighed, rubbing the back of her head, then said "Well, Veetor wasn't with crowds all that much. He also enjoyed helping people, so a remote, newly-built Human colony seemed like a nice place to be in. We lost contact with him after he said he got slight damage to his suit's CO2 scrubbers. We know where he is currently and can easily find him after we're done clearing out the place.

"Oh." Shepard nodded. "Gotcha..."

"Now, I have to ask... The three guys in body armor that resembles Titans and the two clad in Cerberus gear? They are?" Tali pointed at the Spartans, Jacob and Miranda. Shepard awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck, then said "Well... The three guys clad in power suits are called Spartans. Their leader, clad in the bigger set, is named Jonah. The other two are Cole and Damian. Cole's the medic of the team and Damian's our marksman... As for the other two, they're Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor... AKA the leash put on me by Cerberus."

"I feel expendable now... Great." Jacob sighed. Miranda rubbed her temples in anger, trying to contain herself from smearing the commander and Quarians against the wall. Jonah stepped up beside the commander, shouldering his rifle, then said "If you're a former comrade of the Commander's, perhaps we can help each-other here... This friend of yours, Veetor, might have information on what happened to this colony. Should we work together, I see us making record time in recovering both him, for you to take back to your home, and the information he may have."

"We're not working with Cerberus!" Growled Prazza, glaring daggers at Jonah and making the boy currently playing with the safety of his weapon tighten his grip on the gun.

"Prazza, shut up!" Tali snapped back, then she looked to Jonah and said "Sounds like a good idea to me... Teamwork's got us saved so far and with Shepard, I doubt there'd be any reason not to work together. If she trusts you three, then I guess it's okay. Not so sure about Cerberus though..."

"What did the bastards do to your people that got you to hate them so much?" Shepard asked, crossing her arms. Tali sighed, then responded sadly "They killed our people, infiltrated the Fleet and tried to destroy one of our ships. Three of the many reasons we dislike them and distrust them." and looked to Jonah and the others "You have to understand, we're a migratory people and damaging our ships? Hurting our people? That makes you an enemy."

"Damn." Sighed Jonah deeply. He looked to Miranda, then asked "This true, Lawson?"

Miranda shrugged and said "Well, partially. It was nothing personal, don't get me wrong."

"Despite me hating aliens to death and desiring them dead, I hate terros worse." Jonah blandly stated, drawing his assault rifle. Looking to Tali, he nodded and said "I'm Jonah. You got a full name, ma'am?"

"Tali'Zorah vas Neema. Pleasure to meet you, Jonah." Nodded Tali, drawing her shotgun. She looked to Shepard, then said "We need to talk a bit after this... We'll take the high ground. You guys take the courtyard path. Veetor's at the loading docks, protected by missile drones and other Mechs. We'll do better as two different teams." to which the Commander nodded, drawing her M8 Avenger and thumbing the safety to off. The teams scattered, with Jonah and Prazza exchanging one final glance before going their separate ways. Jonah's systems had tagged them as 'unknown' for good reason.

The boy sighted a glow in one of his pockets...

Halting in the middle of the ramp and letting the others pass by him, the man undid the velcro strap that held the pocket closed and slid his gauntleted hand in, slowly. He felt a small, metallic rectangle with a deepening in the middle and a glass-like material. Wrapping his fingers gently around it, he pulled it out of the otherwise-empty pocket, to reveal an AI Chip. The Chip he got from aboard the _Diamond._ Their VIP escort target... He looked at it, then wrapped his fingers around it and slid it into the back of his head, in his helmet's chip slot that went straight into his spine. The crystalline chip slid in without a hitch, then locked into place and soon, the man saw an eerie red mist form around him in his helmet, as well as a strange chill, as the AI acclimatized itself with the systems of the suit.

His HUD flickered out, then flashed off and suddenly reappeared, except this time colored bright red. A woman's voice soon spoke softly, as if she was right in his head "Ah... So this is what a MJOLNIR suit is like. How exciting!" then she gasped, as if she just realized she was not alone "Oh, hello! I'm Kalmiya, UNSC 'Smart' AI Designation KMA-023-114. You are..."

"Name's Jonah. Lieutenant with Hades Squad." The man spoke after turning off his external microphones. A holo-window flickered on in the right-hand top corner of this HUD, revealing the face of a young, beautiful woman, a red-clad AI. Kalmiya smiled at the man, then said "A pleasure to meet you, Jonah. Took you long enough to load me into your suit."

"We've been out for a couple of years... Don't know how or why, just that we were dead and this 'Cerberus' company brought us back to life." Sighed Jonah, walking down beside the others and drawing his AR. Kalmiya nodded, then closed her eyes as red dots flickered on his MT. The girl then opened her eyes and said "I'm detecting incoming drones... Hive-mind protocol. I think I can hack them if you give me a couple of seconds. Their interface seems pretty... Weak." She smirked. "Make that a second."

Jonah saw the strange fliers, a swarm of them, sweep up ahead of the squadron of six. Their rocket launcher turrets scanned them and their spotlights were pinned on them. The lights flickered from white to crimson and the strange floating vehicles staggered in the air, then proceeded to form up on a ledge ahead. Kalmiya's smirk didn't fade, instead widening as she said with pride "Hack complete. Weak cyberwarfare suites for such defensive units. I'm working my way onto dealing with the other units in the area. Whoever activated them probably left out the Cyber-defense protocol."

"They aren't firing at us..." Jacob stated in awe.

Checking her Omnitool, Miranda said "Something... Got into their central systems. I can't trace the signal, but it's got the targeting parameters changed..."

Jonah smirked. If only the terrorist bitch knew...

"Good thing whoever took control of them did... Let's go!" Shepard said, proceeding to move down the stairs. Jonah watched the drones escort them as he followed the commander with the others. Surging through the place and knocking out a few more mechs with support from the drones, the team heard something through com. " _Shepard! It's Prazza! The idiot and his squad rushed ahead! They're under attack by the YMIR Heavy Mech! Get to the Supply Depot! I'll open the door for you!"_

"They looked like they wanted to be first..." Sighed Cole, walking ahead. "We got rocket drones though. That's a good start!"

"Pep-talks ain't gonna help here, Cole. It's lead and lead we've to worry about. Leading the team and firing all our lead into that damn thing before it kills the Quarians!" Jonah yelled to his team-mate. The team proceeded down the path and through several platoons of Mechs, up until the point they reached the gate, a hangar door that was embedded within the wall. The teams took cover on each side of the door. Shepard nodded to everyone from the front, then spoke into her Omni-tool's comlink "Tali, we're there! Open the door!" as gunfire echoed in the far back.

The door slid apart and, from his side, Jonah caught a glimpse of the running aliens as they came under fire. His HUD locked onto a massive, heavily armored mechanized unit, with a head similar to that of the FENRIS. The YMIR-class Mech. Its autocannon shredded a Quarian that attempted to take cover as he stomped another one, then opened fire on her. Finally, the last one received a rocket that rurned him into mush. Last two alive were Prazza and one of his adjutants... Jonah sighed, raised his hand, then looked to the drones. "ALL UNITS! ADVANCE!" He then ordered, signaling the drones forward.

"Going through... Targetting YMIR." Said Kalmyia effortlessly as a barrage of missiles began to fly from the Drones. Jonah and the others then proceeded to burst through the gate and open fire toward the mech with all available ammo. Shots bounced off its kinetic barriers as the team scattered across the open terrain of the courtyard. Damian took the farthest position in the back, loading up his sniper with shells capable of blowing apart the shield, then he proceeded to fire for the head. The bot's shield counter appeared below their health/shield displays on their HUDs.

Jonah looked to his team, then ordered "GUYS, FORTRESS BUSTER! 3-MAN! COLE!"

Cole drew a pair of grenades from his belt, then yelled "READY!"

"DAMIAN!" Jonah smirked, reloading his rifle and priming a third grenade. Damian nodded, then said "Ready!"

"FOXTROT-BRAVO, GO!" Yelled the man, throwing the grenade over at the same time with Cole. The trio of grenades exploded above the mech, shattering his shields as the rocket barrage continued. Damian scoped in its head, cocked the bolt of the rifle back, then wrapped his finger around the trigger. The rifle rung twice within the air and two shots pierced glass and metal, right through the head, narrowly missing its CPU.

"Give me a few more moments... I think I can get this... Done! YMIR Systems rearranged! Its shield isn't coming back up!" Called Kalmiya happily.

Two biotic blasts hit against the mech's body, making it stagger back. Finally, three rocket grenades struck its inner body, piercing through armor and circuitry. Finally, the team proceeded to fire every round of ammo they had into its body. Assault Rifles and Shotguns shredded armor, while Miranda's SMG tore through its insides upon the Armor being opened like a tin can. The final nail in the coffin was Damian's sniper shot, last in the mag, tearing through the bot's CPU. The machine staggered back as its insides shattered, sparked, then finally exploded as it let out a metallic, robotic scream and fell, its torso shattered by the detonation.

"That... Had to be the most amazing display of tactics I've ever seen..." Shepard exhaled in pure surprise. Jonah shrugged, then said "It's just one of our usual tactics" quite nonchalantly. He looked toward the building they needed to enter into. The soldiers walked toward it, loading up their weapons and sliding them on their backs. Shepard followed them, with her rifle slung on her back.

Walking through the door and into the building and disabling the drones beforehand, the group was greeted by a dark room, only lit by the monitors ahead, on which a single alien was working. The Quarian Veetor was muttering something to himself about monsters, not being able to get him and such other nonsense. The screens were running diagnostics relating to the mechs and security systems. They were arranged in two rows of 3. Shepard stepped up ahead of the Spartans, then said "Hello? You Veetor?"

The alien's answer was a scared, concise one "No. No Veetor here. Monsters can't find... Mechs will protect..."

"Your mechs kinda failed, dude." Cole said, crossing his arms... No response. The Spartans watched Shepard activate her omnitool as she muttered something, then sweep it across, shutting down all screens. The Quarian gasped lightly, raising his hands off the disappearing holographic keyboard, then he swiveled about in his chair and stood up, with his shining eyes wide. "You are alive... _They_ didn't take you..."

"We... Weren't really here when this started." Shepard explained, looking at Veetor "Can you tell us what happened?"

"M-Monsters came... Took everybody..." The scared Quarian said, activating his omnitool and tapping a few commands in. The screens behind him flickered to life and the footage of a security camera set appeared, occupying all of them... Strange semi-humanoid, semi-insectoid creatures moved about, carrying organic weapons as well as civilians. Among the screen's imagery, there were strange, small creatures, similar to beetles, flying across.

"Images are hastily put together... But still pretty okay. Wonder what _those_ things are, though..." Kalmiya mused as Jonah locked his eyes onto one of the humanoid insects, around the same time the screen froze. Miranda stepped up, eyes wide, then said "Those guys look like Collectors... What in God's name?"

"The fuck's a Collector?" Jonah asked, his grip tightening around his gun.

Jacob responded calmly "What we thought was a myth. We'll explain more once we're out of here." to which Jonah nodded, less tense. Veetor looked toward them and asked "Monsters... Their Seeker Swarms... They freeze people and then take them away... Recorded them, lots of readings. Electromagnetism... Dark Energy..." he pointed his finger at one of the strange bugs. Seeker Bugs, eh?

"Guess bugspray is out of the question..." Jonah murmured. "What've you got on them, Veetor?"

"Everything I've recorded, I've saved on my omnitool... You can have the data, but please, get me somewhere safe... Get me home... Before they come back for me!" Pleaded the Quarian, staring at them with what Jonah could only assume were puppy eyes... Miranda stepped up and said to Shepard "We should take him with us, see what else he knows. There's usually something these guys are hiding."

The door slid open behind them and Tali's voice burst angrily in protest "What?! Shepard, you can't be serious!" as she joined them. "Veetor needs medical help, not an interrogation right now! Look at him!" She pointed at the wounded Quarian. "You'd probably kill him if you didn't send him back! You can have the data, but please, let me take him home to treat him!"

"There's no discussion from me here. A sick interrogated is as good as a dead one." Jonah said carelessly and bluntly. Shepard looked to the man, smiled, then nodded and said "Jonah and Tali are right, Miranda. We'd kill him more than get info out of him..."

"Her people tried to betray us once already here, Shepard. We give him to them, we may not get the info we need." Miranda crossed her arms. Jonah growled, then took a step forward and snapped at the scared Operative "How about we use you as bait for these Seeker bugs next time, see how well that works out for ya?! He's going back with the other Quarians and that's final, Terrorist!"

"Wow..." Tali expressed her shock, looking at Jonah "For someone who struck me as xenophobic at first... You're pretty cool."

"Thanks. Yeah, I'm xenophobic, but that's not a problem. When people are getting hurt over nothing, it pisses me off. Alien or not, you haven't shot at us yet, even though you threatened to, so you're okay in my book... Just don't test your luck, Tali'Zorah." And the Spartan's visor depolarized, showing him smirking at the young Quarian. She smiled(Probably, since you couldn't really tell with that fogged-up mask they wear) then nodded and said "Don't worry about that. The data is yours..."

The Spartan saw Prazza and his wounded aide sitting in the doorway, heads bowed down in shame, then walked toward the man. As always, Spartans towered heads above anyone ahead of them. Staring down at the damned, wounded officer, the Spartan then smirked behind his polarized visor and said "How about next time you guys leave the big jobs to us. We're the heavy duty team here."

"Harr... Harrr..." The Quarian coughed, looking at the man. "You win this time around. Bosh'tet..."

Jonah nodded to him, smirk still standing behind the visor, then he walked away toward Shepard. She smiled to him, then nodded and said "Alright. Nice one, Jonah, guys." She looked to everyone "We're ready to go. Call the Kodiak."

* * *

The Illusive Man watched as Jonah and Shepard materialized ahead of him in hologram forms. He smiled as he took a puff from his cigarette, then said "Shepard, Lieutenant. Fine work on Freedom's Progress. The Quarians forwarded the intelligence from Veetor's debriefing. No new data, but it's a surprising olive branch considering our history with them. You and I have different methods, but I can't argue with the results."

" _You ever thought it'd be nice to give off an olive branch too, once in a while, Innie?"_ Jonah snarled, scowling at the Illusive Man, his helmet off his head.

"Diplomacy is good when it works, not when you don't already have a bad reputation with the other species. At the very least you've confirmed our suspicions, that the Collectors are abducting the colonies." TIM Answered, sighing. He took another puff from his cigarette, blew the smoke out and left some ash in the ash tray of his chair, calmly staring at the pair with his strange, nearly robotic eyes.

" _So you knew of'em. What are they, anyway?"_ Jonah mused, crossing his arms. The Illusive Man shrugged, then said "I had my doubts, so I needed proof. You gave it to me. As for what they are, they're an enigmatic species that usually comes out of the Omega-4 Relay. They take a few species from the Terminus systems, random subjects at times, or pay slavers and mercenaries exorbitant sums to retrieve said species for them. After they receive their species and their contracted employees, their money, they vanish as fast as they appeared. Other such abductions were where the specimens numbered in the dozens, not thousands, like they currently are..."

" _And you think they may be involved with the Reapers?_ " Shepard asked, worried by the possibility.

"Evidence is circumstantial at most, but yes, most likely." TIM responded calmly.

" _Why though? Why would the Reapers be interested in humans?"_ Shepard chewed on the thought as she tried to process it. Jonah looked to the Illusive Man, who nodded and said "Perhaps, because of what you did at the Citadel. Taking down the Sovereign must've given them some insight on how people fight here. The Alliance and Council, however, want to believe that the Reaper threat died with the Sovereign and we both know that song. I won't wait until the Reapers are marching, I want them out of the game early."

Shepard glanced up toward the Illusive Man, then said " _If I'm going back on the saddle against the Reapers, I'm gonna need an army... Or a damn good team."_

"I've taken the liberty of compiling a list of possible recruits. Scientists, Assassins and mercenaries, only the best. Plus, you've got the Lieutenant and his squad" He saw Shepard scowl at the thought. The woman waved it away, then said " _Keep your list. I need people I can trust. The ones who helped me defeat Saren! I can take the Spartans, but others? No, no can do."_

"I'm sorry commander. It's been 2 years after all. Each have gone on with their lives. Staff Commander Ashley Williams, for example, has been promoted, as you've just heard. Her file is deeply classified by the Alliance... While, I'm expecting you'd ask, Liara T'Soni is on Illium, currently working for the Shadow Broker, which makes her untrustworthy. As for the others... Urdnot Wrex went back to Tuchanka nearly one year ago and hasn't returned since. Reports say he's trying to unify the Krogan tribes for the upcoming war. Garrus Vakarian-"

" _Okay, okay..."_ Shepard interrupted, then sighed in disappointment. " _I got the memo... Forward them."_

"Already done... And while we're speaking of your old team, I was able to recover one of them..." He smiled mischievously "Goodbye, Commander, Lieutenant." And with that, he shut off the com link.

"Man... What a bastard, this one..." Jonah sighed, sliding his helmet back onto his head. Shepard nodded, then said "Welcome to my world, Jonah." before looking back as she heard boots hitting metal stairs. She stopped, upon seeing a middle-aged man, clad in a flight suit and with a strange hat that had the letters SR2 on it. He also had a trimmed beard and a smug smile worth millions.

"Joker?" Shepard stopped, looking at the man with awe.

"Good to see you, commander!" Joker's smirk never vanished. He nodded to Jonah, then said "You two, armor guy. Thanks for saving my ass back there."

"No problem." Jonah nodded. The young man showed them to follow up the stairs, with the rest of the squadron of Spartans saluting Jonah as he stepped through. The Special-Ops leader nodded to them, then showed the team to follow as well. Shepard smiled at Joker, then said "I can't believe it's actually you, Joker. Thought you'd stick with the Alliance even after I died."

"Right after you died, the Council wanted everything you stirred up buried... Records were sealed, team was split... And I was grounded. They took away everything I loved, so hell yeah I joined Cerberus." Joker said proudly. "They brought you back, gave me a chance to fly again after I wasted months drinking my sorrows away and finally... There's also this."

Joker smirked as he leaned against railing, next to the window that scoped in the drydock of the station, then said "They only told me about her last night." after pressing a button... Ahead of them, a large, sleek vessel began to be uncovered from the darkness as spotlights turned on, two at a time in succession, creating tension as the eyes of the squad remained locked on the massive vessel. The Spartans beside him gasped and let out assorted 'oohs' and 'aahs' of excitement. The ship was incredibly large, but it also looked aerodynamic. It had two vertical stabilizers, as well as two wings that had three engine nacelles on each. It was in the color scheme of Cerberus, with its emblem at the front and the writing 'SR3' at the back of the ship.

Jonah saw Shepard smile brightly upon seeing the ship. Joker nodded to them, then said "It's good to be home... Huh, Commander?"

"Guess we'll have to give her a name..." Shepard responded, crossing her arms. Asaga leaned in against the railing and stared at the ship, her Emerald eyes happily shimmering as she saw the vessel, three times the size of the original SR1, then said "Wonder why they switched straight to the SR3, though."

"That's easy." Miranda smirked, approaching them. "We had the SR2 in the planning phase but chose not to use it, so we switched production to the SR3. Three to four times bigger than the SR1 It can house almost two hundred crew members in total, it has several barracks and a bigger hangar, thus allowing you to carry two transport ships and something extra and finally, it has more armament. A frontal-facing cannon and several missile pods embedded within the ship's hull, as well as GARDIAN Point-defense laser cannon batteries."

"Wow. Sounds like she's bristling with guns." Jonah smirked, looking at the vessel.

"Yes, but she can be upgraded." Miranda continued, looking at the SR2. "And may need to be, so she wouldn't suffer the fate of the SR1."

"Oh..." Jonah nodded "That's gonna be fun... Time to wreak havoc against the Collectors, then."

Shepard smirked, then nodded "ALL ABOARD!"

* * *

 _ **AN:So this took a while to build up. Yeah, the Normandy is bigger, badder and better than ever now! Two things done in one chapter! Hope you guys enjoy as this (slightly) modified ME story takes off properly!**_

 _ **Anyways, see you guys at the next chapter... TOODLES~!**_


	7. The Tour and the Talk

**_Hades barracks. Aboard Normandy SR3._**

The barracks was... Incredibly large.

It fit all members of Hades, with a special, separate and even bigger room in the far back for Jonah. It also linked to the main crew deck via some stairs, rather than the usual door. The place had six beds, arranged symmetrically and facing each-other, with foot-lockers for personal effects, armor stands for the SPI suits and lockers for the weapons and gear. Jonah's eyes locked onto a table with several holographic screens in the middle. Computers from this day and age.

"Wow." Jonah could only say, his eyes wide at the size of the rooms as his team moved in, smiles on their faces. Damian almost immediately got to disassembling his sniper at his bunk and starting to clean it. Alice took the bunk above him with a happy smile as she started working on the Sparrowhawk launchers. Jonah took his first steps into the room and right into his own room.

It was the exact opposite of a normal officer's room. It had a window view to the outside, where the wisps of blue that made up high-speed slingshot travel of the Mass Relays flashed in and out. To his right, he saw a desk with a terminal and several other bouts of miscellaneous items on it. A hardback notebook, a lamp and even a coffee mug. Beside that, in the middle, there was the bed, a two-person accommodation that looked strangely more comfortable than any other he'd seen. He looked to see an armor stand just ahead of him, set up for the larger MJOLNIR suit. He tapped his helmet, allowing for the crimson, slim avatar of Kalmiya to form ahead of him, in a hail of crimson bits on his HUD. She looked around, a smile plastered on her face, before she said "An interesting room."

The Spartan looked to his right, to see a bathroom sign. He hummed, nodded and said "Yeah, quite."

He set his duffel bag, full of weapons, off to the side and walked toward the desk. The holographic computer on it had the basic slots for most chips... He looked about and eyed several cameras and microphones. He smirked, then said "Kalmiya? Care to disable this stuff?" in a whisper. The AI smirked and, with a snap of the fingers, the devices short-circuited and died all across the room. "Sixteen bugs, down for the count... These terrorists have some security aimed at us."

"I'd assume they're a little smarter than the Innies... And that says a lot." Jonah mused. He looked to the computer, then said "Think you want in there?"

"Could help if I log in to the ship's mainframe." The girl answered. The Spartan hummed, nodded and took out the chip, before walking toward the desk and slung it inside the main drive port. The Holographic screen flickered a dark shade of red, then the AI appeared onto the device. She smirked, then nodded and said "i've got a hell of a lot more bugs attached in the system... And this computer's Firewall is now... UP."

The room's lights flashed.

"Done." Kalmiya smirked from the holo-pedestal. Jonah nodded, then said "Well done."

Kalmiya nodded her head, then crossed her arms to her chest and tilted her head to the door, before saying "You should go talk to the kids... Hold a speech or something." and she shrugged nonchalantly "This is a new world to them and you, but you have to make sure they'll be with you until the bitter end." to which the Spartan took his helmet off, looking at the AI as he placed it on the desk, then said "I trust them enough..." calmly. Kalmiya once again nodded, then sighed and responded "Take my advice under consideration, at least... I promise I won't fail you. It's my jo-" She paused, looking around, eyes wide. She was clearly surprised "Damn it... There's another AI in the system."

Jonah furrowed his brow. He inquired quickly "Can you deal with it?" to which Kalmiya shook her head and said "It's a pretty advanced encryption algorithm. I'll... See if I can't talk to it." before she vanished. The Spartan spent a few tense moments, watching the holographic computer flicker every now and then with tinges of red and blue. The tension in the room was palpable, the air heavy...

He sighed a deep sigh of relief, realizing he'd been holding his breath in, as Kalmiya's scarlet avatar reappeared, followed by a strange blue orb. Kalmiya was smiling widely, before she shrugged and said "Welp, the AI we've got here is interesting." then she showed Jonah to the AI blob and spoke again "Go on, introduce yourself." in a jovial tone. Jonah looked to the AI, then spoke, her voice dull, a bit rough and robotic in contrast to Kalmiya's more smooth, relaxed voice "Hello, Lieutenant."

"Uhh... Hello to you too..." He paused, unsure. The AI's blob flashed, before she spoke again "I am the Enhanced Defense Intelligence." and Kalmiya completed "Or EDI, for short."

The Spartan scratched the back of his head, then said "Nice to meet you, EDI... say, you won't tell Cerberus about Kalmiya, will you?" to which the AI simply responded "No. It is in my routine to follow Commander Shepard's orders and thus I will not do anything aggressive unless expressly told to by her." to which Kalmiya chuckled and asked "Don't think for yourself, EDI?"

"I do, of course." The AI explained. "I run most of the ship's diagnostics and usually provide warnings via the Holo-Interfaces across the ship. I also run the ship's cyberwarfare and counter-cyberwarfare suites during combat missions."

Jonah sighed, then said "Kalmiya, you found yourself a friend, then." with a relaxed smile. The AI nodded too, her old smile withstanding, then warned "Try and warn Cerberus about me being in their systems and you're toast." her voice stern, serious. EDI responded as calmly as ever "Duly noted, Kalmiya. I must return to my duties now... Be advised, Commander Shepard is heading into the barracks." and with that, she flickered off the holoscreen. Kalmiya gave a mock salute, before she herself dropped off the screen.

The Spartan looked toward the door, to see the holographic lock flicker off. The door hissed, then slid apart, splitting into different pieces as it went into the wall fixtures. The Commander, now clad in a Cerberus off-duty uniform much like the rest of the crew, walked inside. She nodded to the Lieutenant with a smile, then said "Not changed into something more easy-going yet, Lieutenant?"

"MJOLNIR armor is hard to take off and harder to put on. I'll be okay for now." Jonah mused. Shepard shrugged, then said "Suit yourself." before looking about and letting off a whistle of amazement. "Place looks like my room." then she looked to the Spartan and asked "Care for a tour of the ship? I'm new here too, but I think I kind of got the basics of where everything is compared to the old _Normandy._ "

Jonah shrugged "Sure thing."

As they walked out, Jonah waved Asaga over. The girl, out of her armor and in the bodyglove suit that usually allowed to lock all SPI armor pieces into place, walked up to him and saluted happily, a smile on her face. Jonah saluted back, then explained to her "We're going on a tour of the ship. Care to tag along? You'll be the kids' guide after this."

"Aye, chief." She smiled, then nodded and looked toward Shepard "Go on, Commander. I'll follow ya."

Shepard smiled, nodded and showed them to follow. Up the stairs and up with the Elevator, to Level 3, the Spartans were greeted by the middle point of the hull, where the massive mess hall greeted them. Sixteen tables were lined up neatly against a separating wall that had multiple holoscreens on it. There were two paths to take from behind the wall to reach the mess. The halls also lead to Miranda Lawson's room. Following up was the Medical Area, which Shepard had visited just in time to meet her old friend, Doctor Chakwas. Next up was Level 2, with the briefing room, CIC, bridge and of course, the Armory, where Jacob Taylor was. Then, there was Level 4. Storage. Not much to see save for the armories. Next was level 5, with the Engineering deck(Where they met Gabby and Ken, the Engineer chiefs. They didn't approach the Eezoo core of the ship by Asaga's request)...

Following up was, of course, Level 6... The Hangar.

The two Spartans looked in awe... Three Cradles occupied the cavernous hangar that was filled with supplies. Two cradles were occupied. The Pelican they'd went out on was present... It had bulky modifications to give it extra armor, a strange shield emitter array at the top which formed a small, round bump and several ammo packets for the missiles and Gatling gun, all of which'd been modified to fit in Heavy Heat Sinks. The ship, otherwise, remained unchanged...

"She's okay." Asaga smirked. "Good. Could use the old girl for Air Support whenever necessary."

"She looks well-armored." Shepard commented, approaching the gunship. Jonah hummed, then nodded and said "The Pelican's as tough as they come." proudly. Asaga nodded happily, then placed a hand on the old girl and called out a short verse of the Spartan Creed " _Let the enemy pray to the the Devil that damned'em last, for the shadow of death is the one we cast!"_

"Hoo-rah." Jonah slammed a fist into his chest proudly as a response. Shepard saluted, then said "Hoo-rah indeed." with a smirk. The Spartan El-Tee tilted his head, then smirked and asked "Let me guess. Marines?" to which Shepard nodded proudly and said "Sixty-third in Garrison on Elysium. Duty, honor, brotherhood! _Semper Fi!"_ pounding her chest with her fist too. The Spartan nodded and said "Alpha Company, 2531. _Semper Victoria ave Terra."_ And the two high-fived, to Asaga's giddy claps and a laughter from the excited Spartan girl.

"So, where're we headed?" Jonah crossed his arms, to which Shepard nodded and said "We're going to Omega. It's a pirate hive and a massive lawless city. We're gonna find three of our contacts there:Zaeed Massani, a merc and veteran of the First Contact War; the Archangel, a Turian vigilante, apparently and finally, Doctor Mordin Solus, a Salarian who will help us concoct something against those damn Seeker bugs."

Jonah nodded, looking somewhat dismal. Shepard asked "What's up?"

"Not all that into working with aliens." The Spartan explained sadly, but with a tinge of anger in his otherwise somber voice "Hell, the ones we met in our world burned down several of our colonies and sank most of our local defense fleets." to which Shepard sighed, then nodded and said "My condolences, Jonah. Trust me though, the aliens here are usually okay..." then she sighed and murmured "Can't vouch for the people in the Terminus system..." and continued in her usual voice "But we'll deal with things as they come."

"Great, so we're going to a pirate and slaver hive to find three guys." Asaga smirked, cracking her knuckles "This is gonna be a fun little trip!"

Shepard looked to Jonah, then asked worriedly "She always so hyper?" to which the Spartan shrugged, then nodded and said "Yeah, I guess. The guys and girls told me she was worse off before I came to command Hades." and looked to Asaga condescendingly. The girl sighed, then said "Aw, come on, Johnnie. Why you gotta be like that?" disheartened, with Shepard releasing a light laugh at the sight. The Spartan shrugged, then said "Come on. Let's go get the kids. You'll be touring them about, so you'd better have memorized everything."

Asaga nodded, lax, then said "Yeah, of course."

A few hours of travel later, the Spartans had been given the long tour around. Jonah was on his terminal, checking data about himself and his team on the Cerberus Network. Relatively open save for a few higher-pay-grade-than-his files, the Network provided plenty of information about the organization. Pro-Human they were... But with an Insurgent-like MO, from the looks of things. 'Pacifying' rowdy aliens somewhere in the Terminus Systems, halting a 'Batarian' assault on one of the Colonies with heavy fire power... The Spartan was taught to read between the lines of propaganda by ONI(Masters of Propaganda themselves) as to revert the action it had on his or his people's minds...

Still... He couldn't help but feel slightly intrigued by the bastards. They'd hurt humans too, it'd seem, to deal with their goals, yet call themselves 'pro-human' first and foremost... He sighed, tapping a few lines of code into the holographic keyboard, before he looked at his right hand. He twisted it slightly and a storm of yellow and orange formed ahead of him. The holographic supercomputer known as an Omni-Tool flickered to life onto his arm and lines of code ran down its bulky surface. The damn thing was a 3D-printed computer that managed to de-print itself for storage.

He saw Kalmiya appear ahead of him, on the computer. The girl nodded and said "El-Tee. Had a chat with EDI about the ship. Seems she could still use improvements after all. Shepard's gonna come around and ask about it, so I took the liberty I've printed a few devices that could enhance the ship on the computer from ONI blueprints." to which the Spartan's brow quirked up "You stole ONI blueprints?"

The AI smirked, then shrugged and responded nonchalantly "Wouldn't say really _'stole'"_ Giving the necessary air quotations, then finished "More like borrowed."

The Spartan hummed, then nodded and said "Any weapons?" to which the girl manipulated a hologram, to show a heavy rail cannon that could be mounted on the shoulder of the Power Armor. That or a missile pod with similar properties. It could be fitted with EMP and HE missiles, as well as mini-HVAR Rockets. She also flicked on through to handheld gear modifications. AN enhanced scope for the Sniper Rifle System, MA5C with an underslung grenade launcher and attachment rails... A hell of a lot of weapons.

The Spartan smirked, then nodded and said "Mod them up to fit these people's heat sinks and mag coils onto them..."

"Oh, there's one more which you'll love" The girl said excitedly, bringing up a strange, boxy rifle with wire cords... That attached to a microfusion pack. She smirked, then spoke out the details "Model 1. MA Type 793 Pulse Laser rifle, designed to enhance and bolster the UNSC Laser Armament program, currently undergoing secretive tests on Mars. Designed output:Semi-Automatic, short 222 Kilojoule superheated light-energy burst. Designed to disable Covenant shields and melt armor alloys and skin upon impact, it sadly can only be run by Spartans with enhanced power armor packs. She can be manufactured by us here, too, with some tweaks."

The Spartan leaned on the table, the Omnitool dissipating from his arm. He had an incredible shit-eating grin on his face. He nodded to Kalmiya and said "Now we'll leave lean and mean to inflict the fuckin' grief... See if you can't start requisition of the necessary components and materials to build this. I'll go talk to Shepard about our deployment to Omega." to which the AI nodded and saluted "Sir, yessir!" proudly.

He walked out into the room, to see the Spartans immediately line up, clad in their UNSC Fatigues, despite Miranda's request they wore something different. He saluted them, to which they stood at attention and saluted too, then inhaled as he took Kalmiya's advice to heart and spoke to them, calm, stern, powerful and relaxed "Spartans, soldiers... Brothers and sisters of Hades Squad. Faith's been kind to us. We're in a new world, far from the horrors of the Human-Covenant war... I dislike that as much as you do... But it'd seem we have a new mission. Humanity in this galaxy is under threat by strange creatures from across Dark Space. Shepard, I believe, briefed you all on what the Reapers are capable of whilst you were taking the tour with Asaga."

He recalled that. Asaga said they'd met Shepard and she explained to them everything she knew about the Reapers and now, the Collectors, as she'd told him. The kids looked at him, their eyes staring at him, calm, hopeful and proud. He nodded to them and said "It'd also seem we've had our first contact early here. 2185's the year we're in, Spartans. Humanity's a galactic superpower among countless species, big and small. We've made a name for ourselves thanks to Shepard and her crew... Some of them Alien, the others human. You've met the human factor among them, that Chief Williams girl."

The crew chuckled upon seeing Jonah's expression. He shrugged, then said "She's a Human war hero, as are the others of Shepard's crew. War heroes for every people in this Galaxy, alien and man alike." he sighed "Now this is the part I don't like. Sounds like we'll have ta work with Aliens along the way to our mission's success..." and saw their looks. Anger, sadness, surprise, mostly shock and surprise... He continued nonetheless "But I still say that's better than working with Terros. Keep your eyes peeled on Lawson and her adjutant, Taylor. The aliens are second on our shitlist if things go wrong... I trust each one of you knows their bleeding job around our squad. Eyes open, weapons loaded and fingers on your triggers... And if you see a bad guy, light'em up. Shoot with a heart made of arctic ice and show no fuckin' mercy! We're Spartans!"

"HOO-RAH!" The group chanted in unison.

"WE'RE GREEN!" Jonah barked out again, grinning.

"HOO-RAH!" They barked louder in response.

"WE'RE LEAN!" He returned, slamming his right fist into his open left palm.

"HOO-RAH!" The answer came again, prouder and prouder. The kids were getting hyped up hard right now.

"AND WE'RE VERY FUCKING MEAN!" He finished, raising his right fist into the air.

"HOO-RAH! HOO-RAH! HOO-RAH!" the kids barked out again, slamming their fists in their chests hard.

"WE'RE THE MIGHTY, AN ARMY OF SEVEN!" Jonah and the group then chanted in unison "WE'RE THE DOGS OF WAR, SPARTANS TRAINED AND BORN, AND DEMONS AND SOLDIERS TO THE CORE! HOO-RAH! HOO-RAH! SEMPER TERRA!" They all barked "SEMPER FIDELIS! _HADES SQUAD, SOAK THEM IN BLOOD 'TILL THE WICKED DROWN, BURN WHAT'S LEFT WITH OUR FLAMING SWORD! HIT HARD! HOO-RAH! FUCKIN' A!_ " and they all sn, their minds to the UNSC and the folks back home, and to the mission at hand. Hoo-rah, damn straight!


	8. Omega Part 1:Aria

The _Normandy_ swept low for the landing, allowing the Spartans to gaze at the massive asteroid-city, its lights shining crimson in the darkness of space. They approached a docking area, one of the many around the massive spires protruding from the dug-out space rock. The young soldiers gazed upon the city with both awe and disgust as they saw movement from the windows by the main docking port.

Seven Spartans racked their weapons, checked gear and were armored up. Kalmiya was linking all of them now, through TEAMBIO and TEAMCOM. Shepard'd joined the team too, to mitigate any sort of possible threats that could be dealt with by talking. The woman nodded and showed them to follow, allowing them to walk off the ship and to the sight of the orange-tighted warning lights blaring down on them. The left side greeted them as the ship's hull and the outside, while the right was a wall of steel and rock. The crew looked ahead, to be greeted by a lizard-looking humanoid, its eyes jet-black.

Jonah nearly drew his pistol and fired, had Shepard not stepped up between him and the strange alien creature. The alien had civilian clothing designed to fit its reptilian body. It extended its hands in a friendly manner, then said "Ah, hello! You're new to Omega, aren't you? I can always tell." But before it could say another thing, a creepy, four-eyed bug humanoid soldier appeared behind him and stopped him. The Lizard looked afraid, but the Spartans knew better. The bug-eye tilted his head and told the lizard to leave, then looked to them and said "So, you've finally got yourselves here. Welcome to Omega, Shepard." and he bowed mockingly, a grin on its ugly mug.

"You know who I am?" Shepard asked, sternly looking at the thing. It nodded, then said "We had you tagged the moment you entered the Terminus Systems. Aria wants to know what brings a dead Spectre to Omega. She's in Afterlife Club, so I'd suggest talking to her right now." in an authoritative voice. Jonah stepped up and crossed his arms, then asked "Or else what?" menacingly.

The Alien looked at the tall, mean Spartan with some regard to the threat. The Batarian stepped up to him, only to see the Spartan was still taller than him, then said "Trust me, whoever you are. You don't wanna piss off Aria." angrily. The Spartan clenched his fists and answered "I'm thinking she doesn't wanna piss off soldiers like us." motioning to his crew, all of them who had rifles drawn. The Batarian growled, before Shepard stepped up between them and said "That's enough...' and she gazed to the alien "Tell Aria we'll be right there."

The alien scowled, seemingly, then scoffed, nodded and walked off. Shepard looked to Jonah and crossed her arms, glaring at the Spartan "Were you trying to get us killed?"

"One alien piece of shit vs Spartans." The officer responded in a growl "Had to get his head into the fucking fact we ain't something to be pushed around. And if this 'Aria' threatens us, best bet I'm gonna respond in kind. Nobody, Shepard and I mean _NOBODY_ threatens my Spartans. Especially not something like _that._ " and he pointed at the leaving Batarian.

"You oughta drop the racism, Spartan." Shepard ordered, her glare steady, as if piercing through Jonah's visor. The Spartan nodded, then said "If they prove that I should, I will. Until then, I'm not gonna bother." to which Shepard sighed, then returned "At least let me do the talking. I have a feeling that you're gonna actually start a shootout in this bar we're going to."

Jonah sighed, then nodded. Shepard walked ahead, followed by her 7-soldier escort, all of them with guns drawn in case of trouble. Jonah looked ahead, to see a man kicking down a second Batarian, something that made him slightly grin... Shepard walked up to the man, then asked "Zaeed Massani?" to which the man lifted his left hand's index finger, before delivering another kick to the Batarian's stomach.

He turned about, revealing a severely scarred face with a missing left eye and the scars in a pattern, then asked "Yeah, who's askin'?" in an accent Jonah recognized as Australian. Shepard nodded calmly, then answered "Commander Shepard. I believe Cerberus contacted you about joining my crew?" and she saw the man smirk. "So you're the woman they talked about. Yeah, I'm your new crewmate."

He looked back at the Spartans, then whistled and said "That's some goddamn kit you're wearing."

The Spartans shrugged. Shepard nodded to the man, then said "Get aboard the _Normandy_ and talk to Miranda Lawson. She'll get you tagged into the system."

He nodded. The Batarian that he was beating stood up and tried to run, before the man did an old cowboy move and shot the bastard in the thigh, knocking him to the floor and splattering blood across it. Jonah looked to Zaeed, then asked giddily "The hell did he do to you?" to which the Merc answered "Just an unfinished job. I'll bring him in to my employer then be aboard your ship, Shepard."

The walk into the main atrium of the Spire was strange. What greeted them was a damp, dark place with fires burning around, trash laying on the floor and such. Ahead of them was the Afterlife club, where a line of people awaited entry, whilst bodyguards, Turian it seemed, held position. Kalmiya checked in, then said to the Spartans "I've got warnings blaring on the section of the slums that Doc Solus has his clinic in. Some epidemic that kills aliens alone. Also, radio chatter on Archangel from local merc gangs. Seems they all want him dead real badly... Also say he has a team-mate, an Asari commando."

"So we're in it deep now." Jonah murmured. He looked to Shepard, then said "We should try splitting up our team. Three with you, three with me. One side goes for Solus, the other for Archangel."

"You sure you can handle not shooting either?" The woman asked ironically, to which the Spartan let out a mock laugh and said "I think I'll be okay, Commander."

Asaga felt the tensions slightly rise between the two, then stepped up and said "I, Hades-3 and 4 will post up with the Commander and go for Solus. 5, 6 and 7 are going with you, LT." trying to defuse the situation. "Continuous radio contact, make sure we don't fuck up somehow." to which the Spartan and Commander looked to each-other Jonah nodded and said "Good thinking, Two." approvingly. The girl smirked, nodded and said "Aye aye, sir."

Shepard nodded too and said "Agreed. Let's go. Better not keep Aria waiting." before adding a smug smirk.

The servicemen walked up the stairs, to hear complaining and such from the crowd on the left. A Batarian checked the list, then opened the door for them. The thumping music, the drumbeat, the holographic images on the walls... This was just the main hallway. Jonah glanced over to a Batarian, clad in civilian clothing. The asshole immediately stood up and, with two of its goons, approached Jonah, glaring at him.

The Spartan drew his pistol and pointed it at the creature's forehead. Its goons wanted to aim too, but the other Spartans surrounded them, rifles drawn and safeties clicking off. The supersoldier scowled behind his visor, then asked mockingly "You were about to say something, I believe?" tilting his gun slightly as to show him he could talk. The Batarian stuttered and his words just couldn't come out... He soon passed out on the floor, whilst his guardians picked him up. One of them looked up to Jonah, who took his helmet off and smirked, leaning over... "BOO!" He yelled, making the two guards, with their VIP, scatter and scurry away from them.

"Okay, that was..." Shepard was a few feet short of bursting into laughter. "That was funny."

The Spartan nodded, holstering his pistol. The group walked into the massive main atrium of the Afterlife, to see the neon lights ahead, pink, as their visors polarized. Several Alien girls with blue skin and tentacle hair were dancing on poles, clad in tight, thin clothing. The Spartan males wanted to look away, but they knew well something was off with the girls... Jonah sighed and looked to his left, to see a door with steps going into the 'ground' and a guardian Batarian, clad in blue armor and with an M8 slung on his back, waiting there.

The Spartans caught glares with the creature as they walked toward a private booth that hung above the rest of them. Several Batarian guards resided there, holding Avengers and shotguns. Walking up the deck, the Spartans and commander were halted by a Batarian and a Turian, pointing weapons at them, as a blue woman clad in more normal clothing glanced back and said "That's close enough."

The Spartans had to resist drawing guns on the bastards, by Shepard's orders. They still wrapped their hands around the grips of their pistols. The blue-skin tilted her head to a Batarian, who stepped up, activating his omnitool to reveal a scanner. Shepard smirked, drawing her Shuriken SMG, then said "If you're looking for guns, you ain't doing that good a job."

"Precautions, Shepard." The woman spoke from behind the Batarian "You were called out as dead. Anyone could be wearing that face thanks to today's tech."

"Thought she was a doppelganger?" Asked Jonah, crossing his arms. The blue-skinned woman spun about to face them, scowling at the man, before she asked "And whom, pray tell, are you?" The Spartan stepped up to her, towering almost a head over the angered woman, then said "A Spartan. Basically a specialized alien killer. You must be the head of Omega, Aria."

The woman grinned menacingly, then said " I _am_ Omega. You could call me that. The boss, CEO, QUEEN if you're feeling dramatic." as she looked back at the pole dancers, then smirked and said "Omega has no titled ruler and only one rule." and she sat down, leaning against her two-color couch, before saying out loud, enough for everyone to hear her "Don't. _Fuck._ With Aria." adding a smirk.

The Spartan twirled his pistol between his fingers, then said "We've got similar rules."

"Yeah, well, here on Omega, there'll be plenty of people to remind you of my rule." The Asari woman threatened with an ugly scowl. The Spartan took off his helmet, glaring at the woman, then said "And my squad can handle a few raggedy alien pirates, human lowlifes and... You yourself." The Spartan retorted, leaning face-to-face with the woman. "Get me, Aria?" as several guns charged up and were aimed at him.

The Asari locked eyes with the Spartan, seeing the stern seriousness in them, as well as his unflinching posture. He straightened up, then pushed the gun of the Turian beside him aside. The alien shoved him. A big mistake... He woke up with a broken right jaw as the Spartan delivered a harsh punch to the avian humanoid without remorse, planting his head against the glass behind hard enough to crack it in a spiderweb. Several guns were placed against the man's head and the Spartans returned the favor, drawing blade, gun and grenade to greet the aliens.

"ENOUGH." Aria's strong voice was accentuated by her biotics, which flared up with the call. Her bodyguards stepped off scared, one of them helping up the wounded Turian whose blue blood now partly decorated the broken glass behind it. Aria went up, face-to-face with the Spartan, shimmering with a purple aura. She smirked, then said "You have guts, Spartan. I'll give you that much. I can respect anyone willing to show authority, just don't try to usurp me. We'll have problems then."

"Wouldn't dream of taking your..." Jonah sighed, then motioned to the couch "Throne."

"We're here for information." Shepard butted in, looking to Jonah. The Spartan nodded, to which the woman nodded back and whispered 'Good Work' to the soldier. Aria showed Shepard to sit, whilst the Spartans preferred to stay on their feet. Aria looked to the girl, then asked calmly "What is it you need, Shepard?" as the N7 herself shifted her seating position.

"We need info on Archangel." Shepard said, straight to the point.

"You here to kill him too? What did he do to you?" Aria asked, partially concerned. Shepard shook her head and Jonah asked "Who's out to kill him, then? The Mercs about? We saw a Batarian out for recruiting on the lower deck. Blue armor." to which Aria nodded and said "A Blue Suns recruiter. Yes, the Mercs are out for Archangel and his little girl's blood."

"Why'd they want him dead?" Shepard asked, leaning back.

"The guy's an idealist. Been rousing all sorts of ruckus, both him and his girl. Think they're fighting for the 'Good Side'. There's no good side on Omega." Aria explained. Shepard nodded, then asked "Sounds exactly like what I need for my team. So what outfits are gunning for him?"

"Blue Suns, Eclipse, Blood Pack. All the big guns in Omega." Aria responded calmly. "You rarely see them together unless they're at war with each-other." she then motioned back and said "You already saw their recruitment center. A private room. That's probably your only way in, unless you plan on running to Archangel's hideout." adding a mocking tone to the last words. Shepard looked to Jonah, then said "That's your cue. I'll ask about Solus."

"Mhm." Jonah nodded, then he looked back to his team and said "Five, Six, Seven, with me. We're gonna sign up for the hunt."

"Good luck, Spartan." Aria said with a smirk "If you come back, I owe you a drink on the house."

Jonah slid his helmet back on his head, then said "I'll take you up on that, Aria." before walking down the stairs with his three soldiers. The team took a turn, to see the wounded Turian on the floor, tended to by his friends as he downed his pain in Alcohol. They ignored him and walked up to the Blue Suns recruiter, then Jonah asked "You still recruiting?"

"Hmm..." The bug-eyed Batarian looked at them. He tilted his head back and said "Go inside." allowing the Spartans to take steps down the stairwell. Jonah ran his hand over the holographic door lock. It blinked, vanished and the door hissed open, showing a line of Mercs on the right, checking their weapons and a second Blue Suns Batarian on a control hologram terminal. He told them "Step up."

"This the place to hunt for Archangel?" Jonah asked with a bloodthirsty grin behind his helmet. The Batarian nodded, then said "It is. Standard fee is five hundred credits each, you'll be paid when the job is done, no, your friends won't collect your share if you die, and you'll need to provide your own weapons and armor." then he looked up "You've got all that covered. No, this does not make you a member of the Blood Pack, Blue Suns or Eclipse, you're a freelancer, PERIOD."

"Simple enough." Nodded Jonah. "Where do we go now?" He then inquired, seeing the Batarian finish the signup process. The alien pointed toward the left wall and said "Just outside the club, there's a car depot. Our driver's there. He'll take you to Archangel's place. NEXT!" he told them. The Spartans swiveled about and walked for the door, which'd just now opened. Jonah looked back, to see a kid, probably a few years younger than them and clad in a strange outfit walking toward the counter. He asked "This the place where we sign up?" to which Jonah asked "Yeah. How old're ya? Shit like this ain't for untrained kids."

"I'm old enough!" The boy said "I live in Omega, I know how to handle a gun! Plus..." He drew a Shuriken SMG and said "I gave 500 credits for this pistol and I wanna try it."

The Spartan sighed, then walked up to the kid and grabbed his pistol, before telling him "Get your money back." and snapping the weapon in two with his bare hands, much to the kid's surprise. The Spartans all left the building afterward and took their path toward the main avenue, outside. Irene smiled behind her helmet and said "Nice work. Saved his ass from a worthless death."

"Figured he's better alive than offed by some random sniper." The Spartan said, looking ahead as they walked. The line seemed to have moved, either shot or left because they couldn't get inside. The Spartan drew his AR, then looked out at the hanging buildings around and said "What a pisshole... Least it'll keep us on our toes." to himself and his team. They all let out a short laugh, then met up with the Blue Suns driver, another Batarian. The Spartan nodded and said "We're in."

The Driver showed them to get in, then opened the car. Its doors flapped open and Jonah had now noticed it had no wheels... He could feel Andrew grinning already. A fucking Hover Car of all things, existed here. This was gonna be either a fun experience, or their worst mistake yet. Whatever the case, he'd live well enough yet... And he'd help Shepard and her team win.


	9. Omega Part 2:Archangel

**_Near Archangel's hideout._**

Jumping out of the vehicle, the four Spartans racked their weapons' bolts, feeding rounds into the chambers of each gun. They checked armors, gear and everything necessary for them as they walked toward another Batarian. Jonah was first to walk up and ask "This where we go to hunt Archangel?" and the Batarian nodded. "He's across the bridge in the far back. But he and his Asari bitch created a killzone. Anyone who peeks out or tries to rush over the bridge dies. Go talk to sergeant Kafka if you want more info."

"Roger that. Will do." Jonah noted. The Batarian huffed, then walked away, leaving the four alone. The boy signaled his three allies, then showed them to follow. As they walked through the small boulevard, they saw them. Pirates, bounty hunters and slavers alike. Human, those ugly-ass Batarians and a lot of other species, including a couple of Lizard-like ones. The large pathway they walked through was littered with body-bags.

"This is unnerving." Damian said as they walked through into some narrow corridors. The others hummed in agreement... As they walked into a room filled to the brim with what seemed to be mercs and mob bosses, one of them caught Jonah's attention almost right off the bat. A woman, without any armor, human, with blonde hair caught in a ponytail behind her head, with some loose strands at the front and with a burn mark across her right side, was seated near a locked door. Six other men were around her, hauling military-grade weaponry.

The woman herself was a beautiful one. She had blue eyes, one more lightly-colored than the other due to the burn and was wearing a scarlet business suit with a knee-length skirt, black leggings and a pair of high-heeled shoes. Despite it being hidden out of sight, Jonah could see a heavy pistol tucked away under her coat. In her hand was a Cigar of an odd brand...

The woman gazed upon him now, having turned away from lighting her cigar. He hummed, turned toward her, then walked up to her. Her men seemed to tense as the heavily-armored and over-armed Spartan approached her, but she showed them to calm down and stood up on her feet from the seated position. Taking a puff of her cigar, she nodded to Jonah, then greeted him _"Privet."_ in Russian. Jonah nodded and said "Hello to you too... I guess... Are you Sergeant Kafka?"

The woman raised a brow, looking slightly offended, then answered "No, thankfully. Batarians sicken me... Call me Balalaika."

The Spartan looked at the woman. She was tall. About as tall as him out of armor. Just a forehead smaller thanks to the armor, so that put them on even footing... He sighed, nodded and said "Lieutenant Jonah." extending his gloved hand. Balalaika gripped it firmly and shook it, then said "A pleasure." giving a calm smile to the soldier. Jonah crossed his arms and asked "You and your boys here to hunt Archangel too?"

"Us. Oh, Goodness, no. We're here just to watch the event unfold. It's not everyday you get to see so much of the Galaxy's scum in one place." Balalaika told him with a calm demeanor. The Spartan simply hummed, then said "Presume you want to know why we're here?" to which the woman nodded and returned "Seeing someone in Powered Armor is not something usually seen on Omega, so yes, I am a little curious. Or was when you first appeared."

"Huh?" The four Spartans blurted out in unison.

"You are Spartan soldiers, working for a revived Commander Shepard, to bring in Archangel without killing him for the purpose of recruitment. Am I not correct?" The woman nonchalantly pointed out, giving a smirk to them as she saw visors depolarize to reveal wide eyes. "I have ears and eyes everywhere, my dear young ones. Even in Cerberus, despite that moron known as the Illusive Man being unaware of them." and she finished off with a calm "But I'm more curious of you than anyone else."

" _Err... Jonah?"_ Kalmiya finally spoke out of the helmet speakers " _So I've looked up records of this Balalaika on the Extranet... Yeah, try not to piss her off. She's a Mob Boss for one of the most powerful mafias out there. And she runs her work on the Citadel's Lower Wards and mostly in the Terminus systems..."_

Jonah sighed. Another Mob Boss... Always. Fucking. Always. "Curious about what aspects of us?"

"Who you are." The woman said. "Now, we could talk here, but I think you have a job to do and I, a show to watch. If you ever drop by the Citadel, look me up in the Lower Wards. A small, privately-owned property in the Red Light district known as _Hotel Moscow_." and she smiled "I have a feeling we'd do great business together. _Dosvedanya, Jonah."_ She then finished off in Russian, before stepping away. Just her military, straight and unflinching walk was enough to send a shiver up even Jonah's spine.

"... Wow." Damian simply uttered out.

" _Wow's right. Even I felt chills."_ Kalmiya returned with a shudder. Jonah sighed, then showed the Spartans to follow, silently moving out into the Corridors again. As they walked by a door, Kalmiya gave a beep, then said " _We got something here. I'm detecting dormant Combat Systems. Mechs. One YMIR."_ she stated. " _Keep me in range for... oh, nevermind. Done."_ She then said gleefully " _I've reconfigured its targeting parameters... A little surprise for when they drop it into the battle."_

"Well... This is turning into an easy-go mission." Jonah denoted. "Thanks, K."

"Hopefully so, sir." Andrew returned, checking his equipment rather quickly. "I don't wanna deal with getting shot in the head right now." He then murmured as he racked the bolt of his AR. The team walked down the corridor, where several barricades were erected, with Mercs in all kinds of armors manning them. Freelancers and some of the 3 main crime syndicates.

Sitting on the left was a gunship that was being worked on by what looked to be a Batarian in heavy armor. Guarding it were three more men with no allegiance to any kind of Syndicate... The Spartans took their chances, walking past them toward the man fixing the gunship, before Jonah spoke "You Sergeant Kafka?" to which the Batarian, a cigar in his mouth and a tool in his right hand, turned to them and nodded.

"Yeah, that's me. You here for the Reward too, Newbies?" The xeno asked, leaning against the vehicle.

"Could say that." The Spartan Lieutenant noted, crossing his arms. "What's up with the Gunship?"

Kafka rolled his eyes "Archangel and his Asari bitch gave her a few new exhaust holes, I can tell you that much." before looking at the Spartans and adding "You four are kitted out for war... Perhaps with you lot, we may have a better chance at finally punching through the bridge and ending that little asshat."

"Sure." The Spartan noted absentmindedly, looking at the building as sniper shots rang past them, killing a few more mercs. "So, I'm guessing you send us in with the next wave, then the Gunship and whatever other units you have follow up?" The Spartan then turned to the Batarian, who nodded calmly, before the com console rang. That was fast...

"This is it! Go!" The Sergeant said "I gotta fix this bird before they need it..."

The Spartan, as the Batarian went to work, saw one of his tools, an electric welder, laying out in the open... He walked to it, took it from the table, then walked behind kafka as the man was busy with the ship and whispered "You're workin' too hard, buddy. Take a nap." before stabbing the electric tool into the man's back and covering his mouth as the shock traveled through his body.

The Spartan then turned to his trio of elite badasses and spoke "Move out. Over the barricade... Let's fuckin' show these mercs how the big boys do it!" before drawing his rifle. The four men rushed over the edge, jumping out onto the bridge as a single shot passed by Jonah's head. They dashed past a squadron of Mercs that fell, gunned down by what sounded like a circular saw going off. Jonah looked up to see a pair of combat turrets firing from the top and felt the rounds on his own shields. They flashed and lowered by a quarter before the Spartan could find cover.

He peeked over, seeing the turrets firing on them and a crouched figure utilizing an Omnitool to target them, whilst firing a heavy pistol with the other free hand. Whoever they were, they looked humanoid... The Spartans launched forward, with Damian providing Sniper cover(by missing and firing above their targets' heads) as they advanced. They'd reached halfway down the bridge, below the Turrets' arc of fire and Jonah swiveled about, drawing his Magnum...

Two shots to the head killed a Mercenary, sending him tumbling back in front of stunned comrades, before Jonah gave the hand signal and spoke into comms "Start firing on the Mercs. We're here to talk to Archangel, not kill him." as they calmly all opened up on the men and women. Atop the walls of the compound of Archangel, a young Asari woman regarded what she saw o her screen with a smirk.

"Well, would you look at that." She smirked "Yo, Archangel. See what the big boys are doing?"

"I have them scoped in... And I have a feeling they're actually friends to us... At least for now." The Turian sniper said, looking down the scope of his Mantis sniper rifle. "Redirect the turrets to fire on the other Mercs."

The Spartans stood on their feet, rifles chattering as they dashed toward the entry of the apartment. A few overturned Sofas and dead mercs greeted them inside. The rearguard, Damian and Andrew, gunned down more advancing bastards, whilst Jonah and Irene hauling ass up front. The girl saw tubular devices on the floor as they moved for the stairwell in the back, then said "Looks like they were planning to torch the place..."

"Well, we got'em. Kalmiya?" Jonah noted, scanning the surrounding railing and the open walkway up top, that led to a door to the room that was now being used as a sniper perch by Archangel and his companion. Damian's sniper rang one last time, before Jonah turned to see the retreating Mercenaries running back toward the barricade. The Sniper and his companion turned to the Lieutenant, before Damian dropped an empty heat sink and loaded in a fresh one.

"Bombs are disarmed." Kalmiya said through com to all four Spartans. "Detecting two above... Be careful."

"We got it." Jonah said, then signaled the Spartans to join up with him. The four took a diamond formation, with Irene flanking his left, Andrew, the right, overwatching the window and Damian taking up rearguard. As they moved up the stairs, the Spartans swept the hallway ahead, which had four sets of lockers, with their gazes, before they moved for the door. The trio of Spartans behind Jonah took breaching positions, whilst the Spartan activated his Omnitool and swept it over the emerald hologram. It vanished moments later and the door slid open with a hiss... And two guns appeared in front of him, with a blue-skinned woman behind them.

Her upside-down face and smirk were at Jonah's head, guns facing his helmet. The racking of weapons behind Jonah took his attention. He raised his hand and showed the Spartan to lower the weapons, then lowered his own rifle and said "We're friendly..." calmly. The blue-skinned woman dropped from her elevated, upside-down position onto her knees, then bounced onto her feet.

She was clad in a black armor with blue outlines. On her head there was no hair to speak of, instead of it being short tentacles that matched the skin color of the woman, which was a darker shade of blue. She turned toward him, her blue eyes staring at the armored soldier before her as she settled her guns on her hip mag-locks. With a voice as smooth as butter and sweet to the ear, she answered "So are we... For now." and smirked.

"Ho-ho-holy shit." Irene smirked behind her SPI armor's helmet. "Did the aliens suddenly get cuter or is it just me?"

"Irene." Damian muttered, whilst the alien girl simply chuckled.

"Sorry, chief... Go on." She apologized awkwardly to Jonah.

"We're here to talk to Archangel." The soldier said, sliding his weapon on his back. "I'm Lieutenant Jonah. Hades One. Kids behind me are my team's second half. 5, 6 and 7. Damian, Irene and Andrew, respectively. Our commander, a woman by the name of Shepard, sent us to recruit him for a check-in on the human colony disappearances." He then explained, crossing his arms. The woman raised a brow.

"Shepard, huh...?" She said calmly, then stepped out of the way, to let into view what looked like a man in a blue carapace, with a long-shot sniper rifle. A Mantis... The creature turned around, setting the sniper onto a weapons crate next to him. He removed his helmet as he turned around, revealing an alien with what looked like a thick exoskeleton... Mandibles and strange jaws... He resembled an Elite... Enough so that Damian nearly drew his M6 out of habit.

"... Shepard, you said?" The Turian soldier said, mocking a raised brow, one of his blue face tattoos moving. Garrus Vakarian, the Turian sniper elite now known as Archangel gave a mock human smile, by extending his mandibles outward.

"Haven't heard that name in years..."


	10. Omega Part 3:The Devil's Song

Jonah sat down on one of the couches... And the Blue Gal, an Asari, sat in front of him on the table, legs crossed and a grin on her face. The Spartan regarded the woman while the kids seemed to ready up for deployment to the lower levels. Racking weapons and readying themselves, the trio of young Spartans gave a nod to the Lieutenant, who nodded back and said "Take care of yourselves, kiddos." with a hint of concern in his voice.

"We got it, Old Man." Irene returned, grinning "What's a few more aliens to us, right, guys?"

The other two gave light nods. She grinned behind her helmet and said "You heard the jury, chief. We'll be down and back before you can cuss out the Blue Gal." before racking her new secondary. An M45 Shotgun. The trio of Spartans left, strolling down the stairs and toward another stairwell in the far back, shotgun, rifle and sniper in hand, while Jonah regarded them from the top of the apartment. Using her omnitool, Irene opened the door... And the trio of Spartans soon stepped out of Jonah's sight. The Spartan sat back down in his couch, then looked to the Asari.

"Got a name?" He then asked her, trying to pass the time.

"Janae's the name. I worked with Archangel before we got fucked over." The girl spoke calmly, leaning toward the Spartan and grinning "What about you, Big Man?" to which the man nodded. He took off his helmet, revealing his stern warrior's gaze to the girl. She seemed to gain a slightly redder tint on her cheeks, as well as a catty grin. She leaned her chin on her right palm and said "My, my, aren't you a looker?"

Garrus snorted "Watch out with her." He warned "She's something else entirely."

"Oh, hush, Garrus." The girl said, leaning back, her legs crossed "So, name, Pretty Boy?"

"Jonah. I do believe I've said it before." He said, a half-grin on his face. "You know, for a merc, you're quite flirty." He then spoke, leaning back with his arms crossed. The woman nodded, grin withstanding. The Spartan continued "From the way you move, I'm inclined to think you're some kind of Special Forces. Or were, at least. Your species do much combat, Janae?" as he checked his pistol.

"Not a lot, but we do have a military. And yeah, I was once part of the Asari Commandos... Though there was one too many rules to follow, so I went Freelance." She explained calmly, then looked Jonah in the eyes and asked "What about you? You sure as hell don't look like anything that the Terminus would spew out. Not even the Alliance has your kind of armor. Theirs's way more streamlined than your clunky, industrial-looking set. It homebrew?"

"Technically speaking, yeah." Jonah nodded "I modified it myself, but my people have standardized versions."

"What about your teammates? They're wearing some odd armor." Garrus asked, eyeing down the scope for movement from the other side.

"Theirs isn't as powerful, but it's still useful." Jonah noted, crossing his arms "If you think I'm gonna share my secret with a couple aliens, you're down for something or other, because it's gonna take a lot to get me to talk than promising some sorta friendship." he then stated about as bluntly as he could. Janae's brow raised questioningly. She gave the man a nod, then stood up.

"Alright then, Johnnie." She said, smiling.

" _Chief. 6 on coms... We're downstairs. And this place is as thick with Ayys as can be."_ His impromptu fireteam leader spoke through the Omnitool. The Spartan stood up, sliding his helmet on his head, then walked toward the window and answered "Roger that, 6. All clear up top... Means they're trying a flanking move, while we're gonna be busy holding up whatever they wanna send out next."

" _Aye. We sure got an arseload of'em here though... Even some ugly fuckers with teeth always out"_ A gunshot echoed from beside Irene, into the com. " _Jesus, Damian! That's a tad too close for my likin'!"_

 _"Forgive the scare, 6."_ Damian's calm voice echoed.

... Downstairs, in the underground portion of the apartment building, a scaly, sharp-toothed creature's corpse fell to the floor, the pistol dropping out of his hand and a hole the size of a Spartan's thumb between his eyes. Irene sighed, then said "A'ight..." into her Omnitool "We'll be in touch once we seal all shutters, Pops. Six out." before shutting off her com and readying her shotgun as a squadron of Batarians and Salarian troops moved in through the first shutter. Between them was cover in the form of scattered, large boxes, pillars and even small technology items, as well as abandoned bombs.

"I take center. Damian, I want ya coverin' my ass and Andy, you got suppressive fire, aye?" She noted as the group took cover. She looked over her armor's systems and found it... Chameleon circuit. She activated the refractive panels on her armor and soon found herself a walking shadow. Damian and Andrew shined green lights and a second sniper shot echoed, making a Batarian tumble to the floor.

Irene grinned "Alright..." And she jumped over her cover as Andrew's MG chattered. Rounds burst down range, slamming into the cover and ground and keeping the aliens pinned. Six pushed herself up and over the first piece of cover and blasted a bastard with a single shotgun shell. Rolling across the floor as she landed, she fired again, making a Batarian stagger out of cover, where Damian's sniper punched clean through the side of his head. The girl elbowed a Salarian in the gut, then spun and kicked him, breaking his ribs and back. The lizard humanoid's insides burst as he fell to the floor, dead.

Another alien slumped, pumped full of Buckshot by the Spartan. She launched herself off another box and kicked another Alien's teeth in as she landed, before emptying the magazine of her Shotgun into the lines of creatures. She ran to the door's switch as Andrew's SAW echoed. Several dog-like creatures fell, gunned down by the boy's automatic weapon, just as the girl slammed her fist into the 'door close' button on the side of the shutter. It slid down slowly, allowing the girl to draw her Grenade Launcher and take a few pot shots. Two grenades blew up and a crowd of aliens went to hell...

She grinned, flipping the bird as the shutter fully closed, before turning to the boys and moving to join them.

"Well, that was fun... Got a bead on the next shutter, Damian? Oh, wait, gotta get me helm off for a bit..." She asked, taking her helmet off to... Reveal her scars and wounds from shrapnel and plasma. The girl had experimented quite often with new, more volatile explosives before joining Hades. Andrew cringed and Damian seemed distraught... Irene took a deep breath of the recycled air, chuckled, then said "What's the matter, boys? You saw me with these wounds before." as she scratched a gash on her throat. A wound she was lucky to have escaped.

The cute little girl that was under all those scars and stitches, however, maintained a smiling personality and medium-length ginger hair that was caught in a bun on the back of her head. She did have gashes about everywhere, but otherwise, she seemed like the normal girl you'd find strolling the streets. And the Spartans didn't mind the wounds either, considering.

She was still pretty cute for a gal her age...

Strolling past them with a grin, she said "C'mon, guys. We don't have all day." before walking ahead and sliding her helmet back on her head... Andrew lowered his rifle and raised a finger to speak, but Damian shook his head. The sniper calmly followed his teammate, rifle in hand... And Andrew then joined them, still contemplating the fact... This operation _would have been_ his first mission with Hades. And he'd never seen any of them without helmets outside maybe Asaga. Less so out of their armors... The group made their way through the tunnels to the second Shutter.

"We gonna talk about Irene's scars?" Andrew whispered to Damian.

"No." The Sniper said, kneeling and setting up his rifle behind one of the boxes farthest from the shutter, giving him a clear view of the entire hall. There was less cover here. Just a few scattered boxes and some pillars... And the first aliens appeared, closing in on the shutters already. Irene looked to Andrew and showed him to set up in-between two boxes, to give him a clear LOS on the targets advancing from the breach.

Loading a fresh Heat Sink into the Shotgun, the girl nodded to the boys, before dashing forward again. The MG rattled again and this time bullets struck shields and flesh, making some creatures collapse night instantly... And some of the massive red lizards they'd spotted entering the little combat zone charged forth... Rounds punched into armor or bounced off.

"Oh, well, fuck you too!" Irene called out, drawing her knife... The massive, armored lizard roared and charged the girl. She aimed her pistol and fired six rounds... All of them pierced shields and then armor. She then surged forward, drawing her grenade launcher and stowing the pistol, before jumping on top of the darn thing as it tried to punch her. She stabbed into an opening on the back of its armor but heard the knife clink... And she then shot a grenade down its armored collar, before jumping off and stabbing into a Batarian and twisting the blade of her KA-BAR into his throat.

Damian's sniper barked twice as the grenade in the Krogan's armor plating detonated, splattering blood on the floor. Irene also fired her pistol and used her knife to great effect, stabbing into the motherfuckers and slashing throats and arms as they rushed her. Andrew's MG was, luckily enough, keeping many of them pinned down and even killing some. She jumped back and pirouetted through the air, before masterfully delivering a kick to the jaw of an alien, splattering his brain across the floor. She snapped off the last shots of her pistol's clip, reloaded and slammed the button, then slid two grenades under the shutter. The detonation muffled the death cries of a horde of enemies.

... Back up top, Jonah was getting a call... " _We're just finishing up the last shutter, boss..."_ Before settling himself in position and staring across the bridge. He nodded, then said "Roger that. You'd best get back up here quick. We got incoming." calmly... He saw a lot of movement down behind the barricades, then looked over to the rocket launchers brought up by Irene.

"Looks like we're about to have company." Noted Janae, readying her twin Carnifex pistols.

"So... We pullin' our guns or whistlin' Dixie?" Jonah asked, grinning as he readied his DMR.

The girl grinned, spinning the twin pistols around her fingers and saying "Oh, guns, for sure."

They watched as a squadron of Krogans appeared over at the front, led by a red bastard and followed by a squad of Asari. Janae holstered her pistols, drew her illegally-modified shotgun and racked the pump, before saying "Oh, I'm gonna fuckin' enjoy this." before they heard the thundering steps of the Spartan-IIIs wearng SPI armor. Irene joined them at the balcony's side and said "Goodie! We ain't late for the party, boys!"

The Spartans readied their weapons. Damian took his position by the Sniper perch and said "Looks like more of those big armored Lizards... Good." He said, racking the bolt of his weapon. Andrew set up his MG to have a killbox toward the inner area of the apartment, aiming down its sights and nodded. Irene grinned, then turned to Janae, who held a pair of grenades between her fingers.

"EMP Grenades and mines... Wanna burst their Barriers, kiddo?" She asked.

Despite being invisible, her eyes sparkled behind the visor as she said "Hell to the fuck yeah, mama!" and jumping to grab the grenades. Janae readied her shotgun as she handed the weapons to the girl, then nodded and looked to Jonah. The Asari grinned added "C'mon then, Big Man. You're with me." before running past Andrew and jumping down onto the ground floor... Jonah exchanged glances with Irene, who gave a thumbs up, then looked to Garrus, who nodded... He rolled his eyes, then ran to, jumping to join the girl down stairs with a loud clang.

The two watched as the Mercs streamed through into the building and readied their weapons. The Spartan aimed his DMR and said "Three big fuckers vs two of us. One pasty white dude in power armor and a blue chick with a shotgun... What're ya thinking?" he then asked the blue gal. She grinned, taking a combat stance as a lilac Aura surrounded her...

"Well... We tried being reasonable before... And we didn't like it." She leaned the weapon on her shoulder, activating her Biotics. "Oi, ya Red Fucks! Ever notice there's someone you come across you shouldn't have messed with?! THAT'S ME, ARCHANGEL AND OUR PALS!" She yelled to the monsters, before sending forth a wave of Biotics toward one of the Krogans... The resulting strike knocked him on his ass, exposing a weak spot that Jonah took with six shots from his DMR. 6 more in his mag... The cunt died, bleeding and on the floor, while his pals were charged by the Asari.

Two shotgun blasts burst through parts of the armor up close. A fragmentation grenade detonated and burst more armor... Before she jumped on top of the third one and emptied her Shotgun's ammo into it. He joined, drawing his knife and stabbing the second through a crack in its armor. She finished said second off with a headshot from her pistol, before bursting the last one with a shotgun blast... The duo then turned to see a lot more incoming... A horde of Mercenary Commandos moved in.

"Oh, Christ..." Jonah muttered. "Here they come."

" _Wir singt am Teufelslied_?" Irene muttered over the com... Indeed...

Who would sing the Devil's Song now?


End file.
